Cookies = Baked, Salmon = Grilled

[gerisullivan]

When I was in 8th grade, my brother was a student at Olivet College. One weekend he came home from college and I helped him bake 400 chocolate chip cookies, which he then took back to his frat brothers. Another time we made 250 oatmeal raisin cookies, and later in the year, we made another large batch of chocolate chip. I thought of those days, and him, several times tonight. I didn't count cookie by cookie, but the final tally is somewhere around 15-18 dozen.

The flavors?

Plain ginger snaps
Sugared ginger snaps
Ginger creams with browned butter frosting
Oatmeal raisin'n'cherry
Maple Irish oatmeal
Orange drops with orange butter frosting

I can thank (or blame) Barry and our Mom for my cookie-baking frenzy, but the late-night dinner that followed was inspired by members of my fannish family. Susan Levy Haskell and Joe Siclari, to be specific. While the cookies were baking, an 8-oz fillet of Alaskan sockeye salmon was marinating in ginger-pear salad dressing and lemon juice. As soon as I frosted the last cookie, I fired up the grill and put the salmon in the grill basket. Ghu only knows how I managed to grill it to perfection, but that's how it came out.

The protein was a welcome counter-point to the freshly-baked cookie appetizers. Life is good.