I need to ramble and rant for a minute.

Chef and I have learned quite a bit from our, um, unsuccessful marriage. The lessons from that experience have allowed us to grow and establish a new kind of [non-romantic] relationship. Because he’s always been one of the few people I can talk to about food here, we will sometimes grab a drink together to catch up and talk about restaurants – it took a lot of time and personal growth for us to get to this level of camaraderie because this would not have happened a year ago. It’s a strange situation to explain to other people. Hey, this is my ex has an interesting ring to it.

I will occasionally let him have Bacon for a night or two – I know Chef missed him throughout our whole ordeal. Usually I would drop the pup off at a cafe or at the restaurant but a really frustrating thing happened earlier this week. We agreed on the previous night that we would meet around 8am and that I would call him early in the morning to confirm things. I woke up around 6ish and called him. He didn’t pick up so I figured he was probably asleep. 7am rolls around and I call it again. No answer. I’m starting to panic because I didn’t want to hit traffic on my way to the office. I drive to a cafe and there, I call and text him a few more times. Again, no answer. It’s now 8am and he’s nowhere to be found. I call a few more times and finally someone answers. “Who is this?” This is Annie. “I’m Annie too…” I ask for Chef and she says I have the wrong number. My phone clearly said that I called Chef. I’m now furious and panicking even more because I have Bacon in my car and I have to get to work. Old angry feelings came back because it was a flashback to our marriage: the times he would fall asleep elsewhere, the times he didn’t call to let me know why he didn’t come home, the times I spent waiting for him. I started to wonder if keeping in contact with him was a bad idea, if we really can’t un-learn old habits, if we really have not been able to re-establish trust. Old feelings, old insecurities came back.

Relying on my terrible memory, I tried to find his apartment. I pound on his door and he answers it, still half asleep. I asked him why he didn’t answer my calls or texts. Basically, I sounded like a psychotic ex. He says he didn’t hear it. Ugh. Chef shows me his phone. Absolutely nothing – no missed calls or texts from me. As we’re standing next to each other, I call his phone to test it out. Maybe one of us has a broken phone. It doesn’t ring. He tries calling me. It rings. I call him back. It rings this time. What the hell. I feel pretty embarrassed about not giving him the benefit of the doubt, but trust is fragile no matter how much healing you think you’ve done. I am still slightly angry about the whole situation too: technology is supposed to make our lives easier. I wonder how many people out there have had missed opportunities and paths in life because of technological glitches like this. Remember when everyone had landlines? Geez…

The theme of today’s post is trying to make old things new: old American recipes. I’m not talking about the weird vintage ones like banana wobblers, tuna jello pie or liver pâté en masque. I mean the true classics like traditional cookies, pies, and cakes. I was craving some old fashioned peanut butter cookies so I made the ones from an old Betty cookbook.

I added chocolate chips because I tend to throw extra shit in and it’s a ridiculously simple and lazy way to add a little extra pizzazz to something. I’m also not a fan of plain peanut butter cookies.

If you think the chocolate chips addition is kinda lame and boring, add something else and go crazy. Chopped banana chips & chopped bacon for the cookie version of a Fat Elvis, Fluffernutter-like cookies with dehydrated marshmallow bits…

One more thing you should know about these cookies: THESE COOKIES + ICE CREAM = BEST ICE CREAM SANDWICH COOKIES EVER. Some ice cream recipe suggestions:

• Salted Butter Caramel from David Lebovitz
• Dulce de Leche from The Ravenous Couple
• Rich Chocolate from Chow
• Roasted Hazelnut Vanilla from NYTimes Cooking
• Concord Grape Swirl from Martha Stewart

Do it.

For 3 dozen-ish cookies (adapted from an old BC cookbook):

• ½ c. butter, softened
• ½ c. creamy peanut butter
• ¼ c. granulated sugar
• ½ c. light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  
• 1 large egg
• 1 ¼ c. all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¾ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¾ c. chopped semisweet chocolate
  

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until creamy on low speed.

Beat in vanilla extract and egg. Combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. Slowly add in flour mixture into creamy mixture, ¼ cupfuls at a time, while the mixer is still going at low speed. Fold in chopped chocolate with a spatula, by hand.

Chill dough for an hour. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll dough into 1″ balls and place on a parchment paper lined or lightly greased cookie sheet, setting them at least 2″ apart from each other. Flatten with a fork, so the tines make a pattern on the cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool to touch before transferring them onto a wire rack. Let it cool completely.

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