Things fell a bit silent here, my apologies. Caring for my cat left me somewhat exhausted.

This past weekend I rallied some, just in time for my parents coming into town. One of the sights we visited while I played tour guide was Brooklyn’s Botanic Garden – where, conveniently, they were in the midst of their annual Chile Pepper Festival. (I figured it would safely appeal to them both — Mom would ooh and ah over the gardens themselves, while Dad would get into the various food and tasting booths they had set up to celebrate the chili pepper.)

One of the events they had was the annual return of one of Matt Timm’s cooking “takedowns”. I told him how I’d missed out on the signup for the next bacon event – but he tipped me off to a couple of upcoming events that aren’t on the web site yet.

And one of them is a cookie takedown.

Well.

The last takedown I competed in, the bacon one, I think I suffered by not putting enough thought into what I was doing. But with a two-month lead time…I think I could at the very least give things a good run for their money.

I’ve gotten a couple ideas already, so I may be spoiling friends thoroughly over the next couple months asking them to play guinea pig for various cookie ideas.

…Oh, and did I mention that one of the things my parents brought for me from home was a couple big bags of just-picked cranberries, and that both the ideas I have for cookies incorporate cranberries as ingredients?