I am OFF MY HEAD about this shortbread recipe (courtesy of Ming Tsai) and have eaten more cookies (see Halloween cookies in previous post) in the past 18 hours than in probably the past 9 months combined. No, I'm not pregnant; the 9 months was just my best guess regarding time span in which a similar number of cookies may have been ingested. Seriously, people, this stuff is the bomb. Do you remember those red, round aluminum Danish Cookies tins in which stood columns of variously shaped butter cookies? The Royal Dansk collection or something of that ilk? My favorites were the rings with scalloped edges. Wait, were the tins blue?

Ming's recipe is that childhood memory upgraded and matured! Is it the addition of multiple egg yolks? The vanilla extract and paste (I subbed paste for the scraped bean)? The fairly ballsy amount of salt? I think all! Whatever it is, it's magic. The kids and their pals devoured huge quantities today -thankfully!- but I am happy that a decent store remains.

People, I believe I have also come across the babysitter equivalent of just how great these cookies are. We met her yesterday. She is a theater major and thinks the children's on-speed-like energy is delightful and just what she enjoys. Oh, mon dieu, can it be true? She could do every Harry Potter character's voice accurately; Jack was literally ensorcelled by this talent. Oliver found it intensely awesome that she encouraged him to jump repeatedly, sing, dance and fake-die. It's not too good to be true, is it? Send vibes that she's real and not some figment of my tired/husband's-been-out-of-town brain!

People, WTF with the Healthcare.gov site! Pitiful!!! Must be fixed 4 months ago!