Desires and Cravings in Hiding

For the past 2 weeks, I've been trying to figure out my craving, my muse, my desire. I found nothing. I flipped through old food magazines, my cookbooks, online blogs, and I found no inspiration, nothing that I said to myself I had to have. I could have cried, bitched, done damage to my kitchen. If I could crave Indian food, couldn't I crave something sweet?
So Sunday, I sat down again with my Nigella books, telling myself to find something. I discovered a strawberry ice cream recipe. I didn't have a pint of strawberries, but I had blackberries. Blackberry Ice Cream it was. I had my vintage ice cream maker. Surely it had to work. I followed the recipe. Got it into the machine, whirl, silence. Unplug, next outlet, whirl, silence. Maybe its the outlet. Unplug, move, plug, whirl, silence. Words surely came to mind. So I poured the cream mixture into a bowl and stirred every hour. I found that every hour, it tasted more like vanilla ice cream and not blackberry.
After having a glass of wine, I found myself craving a cookie- a chocolate chip cookie, then a peanut butter cookie. Well, I had already started making chocolate chip, when I started having the peanut butter craving. So I had to save those for another day. So I mixed the batter, did some quality control. A lot of quality control. Burned myself in the oven. And allowed my apartment to get the nostalgic smell of cookies permeating through my small apartment.
For the first time in a long time, the cookies came out chewy, puffy and delicious. The kind that go perfect with a glass of milk. The kind where you eat all the cookie dough before actually making the cookies. I could have eaten many, but I ate three.
And by the time I was done dunking my cookies in milk, my ice cream was still a soupy mess. I shrugged it off, saying "So much for cravings."

Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Of course, I wouldn't go with any other cookie recipe. When it comes to chocolate chip, you don't stray from Toll House.)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips (semi-sweet, preferred)
  
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
  

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.