I know, it's been shameful, this long, inexcusable silence. You see, this law school thing is just as time- and life-consuming as everyone says it is (it's also, incidentally, awesome, but that's another story altogether). And, in the midst of going to class and reading books and writing exams and trying not to freak out all the time and doing my summer job, I managed to let this blog thing go by the wayside for... well... far too long. I hope you can somehow find it in your hearts to forgive me.

get in the forgiving frame of mind and bake some cookies, over this way.

Apparently, I was in the mood for some fancy-pants baking this past weekend. Like, multiple-day, million-step, fussy-as-can-be baking. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd been fantasizing recently about chestnuts. I just love those little guys so much; they're sweet, they're meaty, and I feel like they're a bit underutilized in the baking world. I mean, sure, one always hears about chestnuts going in turkey stuffing or whatnot, and of course there are always those dudes selling them on the street, but I don't think I see chestnut desserts quite as often as would be desirable. So I started poking around for something inspiring to do with chestnuts, and lo, I found one over at the Queen of Domesticity's place: a chestnut cake filled with chestnut pastry cream, frosted with a bittersweet ganache, and finally topped again with a chocolate-armagnac glaze. Holy moly.

Holy moly, indeed, over this way.

A couple of weeks ago, Kenan and I were over at Boots and Coach's place, enjoying a nice dinner. Afterward, while we were digesting and enjoying some quality bonding time with the sofa, I started leafing through a few cookbooks I had brought over to plan for my next baking adventure. Looking over my shoulder, Boots noticed a recipe for steamed gingerbread pudding and asked, coyly, if I could make something similar for her half-birthday, which fell the following week. I said yes whole-heartedly. I mean, I probably hadn't heard anybody mention half-birthdays since middle school, but I find something charming about the idea that people in their mid-twenties can still get excited about (and celebrate, and bake for) un-birthdays. So we set the (half-)birthday celebration for last Friday, and I started researching.

get spicy, over this-a-way.

Once upon a time, by which I mean about two months ago, Kenan had an idea.

Actually, I should maybe give you some background first, before I get to the idea part: You see, Kenan and I are fortunate enough to have a plethora of friends (and friends of friends) who share our proclivity for blogging and photographing and drawing and such. As it also happens, all of them like to eat good food, even if they don't themselves make a project of creating it (for more information, see my 'blog roll, ladies and gents; they're all worth a read). Kenan and I often talk about how living in a city like this is so great for community; not only are there great multitudes of talented people around doing amazing, beautiful things, but a good number of them live in our neighborhood, and having their stuff around to keep up on and learn from is both inspiring and happy-making. So, Kenan had the idea to get a group of said bloggers and photographers and generally epicurean folks together for one big, extravagant, entirely blogger-created meal.

mealing and dealing when the dinner bell rings.