In my first ten months in my current place, I cooked a total of zero times. In the last three months I've cooked pasta twice, used the rice cooker about four times, and grilled two (pre-cooked) sausages. Otherwise my eating-in diet consists of cereal, PB&Js, salad (actually, pre-washed lettuce - no dressing), and frozen stuff I heat in the toaster oven. It's not that I don't know how to cook. I did take a Home Ec class in 6th or 7th grade, so at least I can crack an egg. But I've never cooked a recipe more than once, and the sum total of recipes I've cooked since junior high amounts to something less than a half dozen. To me, Julie & Julia merely marks the continuing descent of Nora Ephron into paycheck-cashing irrelevance. So it is more than a little silly that, given an invitation to a holiday dessert potluck, I would get my bakeware from, of all places, Williams-Sonoma. I'm embarrassed to say how much I spent on a single cookie sheet, but suffice it to say it was much as my lifetime expenditure on cookware (one pot, one pan) up to this point. (In my defense, it was the closest place to me that wasn't sold out of cookie sheets, and my car is grounded while waiting for parts to be ordered for a repair.) Even more silly, despite the amount I spent on a non-stick cookie sheet, I cooked the first batch of coconut macaroons (my favorite cookie, and one of the simpler dessert recipes in The Joy of Cooking) on my tried-and-true Reynolds Non-stick. Nevertheless, the first batch was slightly burnt. And working with the foil was a pain since non-stick foil on a rimless non-stick pan makes for a lot of sliding around. So for the second batch, I flouted Rombauer's "parchment paper or well-greased aluminum foil" instructions and tested out the non-stickness of the Williams-Sonoma Nonstick Insulated Cookie Sheet. They stuck. But they did come off largely intact with relatively little effort - and the sheet instructions do say to grease the pan if the recipe says to - so close enough. They still cook more evenly with foil, though. BTW, after eating the whole first batch of macaroons, I am reminded of why my enthusiasm for cooking dies after every time I cook. Anybody interested in a dozen crispy-on-the-bottom macaroons? And that concludes my first Adventure in Baking. Stay tuned for the first installment of How I Found Out What My Cookie Sheet Is Really Worth On Craigslist.

I do love coconut macaroons (and no, I do not like macarons; at least not commercial ones). And they're easy to make! Let's get baking: - 5 large eggs, separated - 150 grams of sugar - 3 cups of shredded sweetened coconut - half a cup of flour - a tablespoon of vanilla/vanillin 1) Beat the sugar and egg whites until it's "stiff peak" material. 2) set the oven to 180C. At the end of step 4 it should be preheated. 3) mix the yolks, coconut, vanilla and flour in a big saucepan until it's a smooth mixtured. Then on a stove top low heat, stir this mixture while it slowly heats up. The idea is NOT to get it hot, but to get it warm. This will make it get slightly stiffer, but use too much heat and the yolks will set. That is bad. So keep stirring until it's roughly porridge consistency (you can tell by taking it off the heat, tilting the pan, and stirring. If it gloops, not done. If clings a little before letting go, pretty good). 4) Take off the heat, stir a little more, then stir in the fluffy eggwhites mixture. remember it has to be stiff peak material. if it started to run a little, mix it back up first. When mixed, scoop spoonfuls onto a baking-paper lined baking tray, and pop those suckers in the oven. "But Mike! How many?" What is this, math class? We're making cookies; however many you can make given the size you make them at! As a handy reference, though, this is enough to make six Mike-maracoon-sized macaroons. That's right. Six. 5) Wait 15 to 20 minutes (if after 15 minutes they're not at least golden all over, wait another few minutes), then take them out and leave them to cool down. 6) omnomnomnom And if you have access to it, "pour" your macaroon on edible rice paper (traditionally round cut, and slightly smaller than your macaroon), for an even more authentic "omnomnomacaroon" experience.