Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies

The clumsy cook indeed. Apparently the forgetful cook as well. I went hiking with a lovely group of ladies from school earlier today and forgot all the things in two different cars. Well, really just my glasses case and my phone.

Sounds okay, yes? But NO. I was NOT okay. I was actually surprised at how attached to my smart phone I've gotten. I was sitting there, staring like a lost puppy, at the place my phone was supposed to be in my back pack. I pawed at the back pack 2-3 times thinking, maybe now I've developed enough magical powers to just make my phone appear? Or...there must be a secret compartment I haven't discovered in 6 years!

Finally, I accept the awful truth: I had left my phone in a friend of mine's car. Yes...I was phone-less. Not un-contactable mind you, but phone-less. Where would I read the newspaper (online.), where would I read my books (real paper.), where would I text people (my texting app on my computer.), where would I play RUZZLE (the true horror.)

All of these thoughts came crashing towards me as I sat, mildly catatonic, on the edge of my bed, clutching my landline. I finally stepped into gear, after much growling and snarling at my puppy...as he was the only live creature around at the time...an act that he took as love and play time...it only served to fuel my irritation. I called my friend and she was nice enough to drive my phone back to me. That's right, she brought it back to me. Her super-niceness pushed me to realize a few things that I have to say.

Either way, valuable lesson:

1. Nice people are nice, and will be nice enough to drive your phone back to you when the red line is experience serious delays. You are now immortalized in my blogpost for being nice. Thank you :-)

2. Hello, my name is Mita and I am a cell-phone addict. Yes, I am that person on the T who is texting or reading, or moving her finger rapidly on her phone in an attempt to beat a random user at a word game. Yes, I am that person who freaks out when her phone gets slower by a fraction of a second. Yes, I am that person who resort to neanderthalic-like grunts and slamming when my phone freezes. My name is Mita, and I have a problem.

I joke, but it's a legitimate problem. I am constantly being mentally-stimulated by the barrage of information my phone throws at me...updates from the NYT, information about celebrities I didn't know I cared about, and heart-wrenching losses at Ruzzle (if you haven't played...you just don't know). But at the same time I talk about important it is to just have time to yourself to think, to be, to contemplate. Some of my best thoughts come from being forced into boredom .

After all, that's why I took the summer off between 1st and 2nd year. I wanted to be bored...to not think or do, but just be. Why not? Being bored is a privilege that I'm lucky enough to have and I get that it's not going to come back. Life is happening and it'll keep on happening, so why not just enjoy the boredom I will pay so much for in the future?

So! I hereby take this vow...to try to use my phone more judiciously and responsibly. You might see me on the T using my phone, or sitting at a bus stop, or walking down the street, but I promise I'll be using it to expand myself...and, I'll also just use it straight up less.

In celebration of my addiction recognition--cookies! Now I've searched long and hard for good chocolate chip cookies, and I believe I found my answer on Smitten Kitchen. I tweaked the recipe a little, so now I'm calling them my Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies. In my case, I had trail mix, coconut flakes, and chocolate chips. BOOM, delicious.

Chocolate-What-You-Got-Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

0.75 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
0.5 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2.0 cups all purpose flour
0.5 tsp. salt
0.5 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

EXTRAS -- you can mix and match, use them together, use only one...up to you!
0.5 cup of your favorite trail mix
0.5 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
0.5 cups crushed pretzel sticks


Preheat oven to 325 F

In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients: salt, baking soda, flour. Cream together the melted butter, and sugars. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Slowly mix in the flour ingredients into the wet ingredients until just mixed. Then stir in the chocolate and any extras by hand.

Scoop out 1 tbsp on to a parchment paper covered baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Bake them for ~10 minutes. They should be crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside...enjoy!

Also, you can freeze any extra dough for future cookies.