(chocolate) chip off the old block

The home/work baton was passed last week, not without a few tears. But let's not dwell on that sad fact. Suffice it to say Papa is now home full time, while Mama sallies forth into the workplace to bring home the bacon.

In an attempt to set the bar impossibly high and blow our homemaking wad right away, we decided on Day 2 of the New Order to make chocolate chip cookies. A double batch, no less, which was a gutsy call considering the baker's shady reputation as a kitchen improviser. And in fact, the recipe was thrown into chaos by the addition of an untried Secret Ingredient at the eleventh hour. Luckily, it all turned out fine in the end (i.e. the cookies were edible).

Kitchen-confidential note to all you M. Stewart wannabes out there: No kitchen professional worth his salt would be caught dead these days without his very own front-loading strap-on sous chef. Handy! And cute!