c is for cookie

Or cookie bar?  I don't know.  All I know is, I was craving 1) chocolate chip cookies of some sort, and 2) baking something easy with ingredients I already had on hand.  Enter one of my favorite food blogs, Mel's Kitchen Cafe and her Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.  As you well know, I love Mel's blog and her recipes are always a hit around here!  (Earlier this week, I made an adaptation of her Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup and it was so good, maybe even better than Panera's?)  

These cookie bars were easy to make, bake, and are delicious!  (Sorry for the poor picture, I was too lazy to take out a camera so I snapped that with my phone.)  I've only had one for now... :)  I liked the simplicity of the ingredients and the ease of putting it all together - less fussy than dealing with cookies that need to be scooped, watched carefully while baking, and cookie sheets changed constantly.  As long as Matt gives his seal of approval later, then I'll know they're a winner!

It's been a nice weekend, but never long enough.  And never enough rest!  What's up with that?  Our Chinese New Year dinner with Daf and Josh last night was mighty tasty, and even Matt got in on the action.  He enjoyed some nice char siu and even poked around some chicken fried rice which was surprisingly delicious.  The rest of us had fish maw soup, spicy salt squid, beef chow fun, yang chow fried rice, and pea shoots, followed up with some boba drinks.  Deliciousness!  While we waited for our table, we even had some fun at the gift shop next door where Matt found himself a pink alpaca plush (he LOVES alpacas, what were the chances?) and Daf got a Hello Kitty steering wheel cover for Fugu.  Josh's goal is to pimp her ride for future gifts, haha.  

I like that we've all been hanging out for a night the last few weekends.  This coming weekend, I'll be taking Daf to get her xmas/early birthday/graduation gift, we'll do some filming for her senior thesis, then all of us will have dinner, we're thinking maybe Wako for chicken katsu finally.  It's nice to open Matt's eyes to new foods and he's being a good sport about it, it's slow progress but progress nevertheless. 

This morning, I woke up early to talk to my grandma and wish her a happy Chinese New Year...it was hilarious that she was so excited when she realized it was me.  Plus she cracked herself up when she forgot to wish me a happy new year until the end of the conversation, something along the lines of, 'I forgot to say it even when you remembered!'  Haha, she's so cute :)  

The week ahead looks to be pretty stressful and especially busy at work.  Somehow, a bunch of deadlines snuck up on me for February 1, what gives?  Oh well, have to just keep on moving forward and tackling each thing one at a time.  For now, there's still a full night ahead and some delicious leftovers from last night still waiting for me in the fridge - yum!