50.29% -- I still have a long way to go

Last weekend I made recipe no. 88, which puts me just past the halfway mark on my cookie baking project!  Unfortunately, as the post title indicates, I've still got a solid year-and-three-quarters remaining, which seems like a long time when I look back over the same amount of time pointing in the past.

Let's recap a little.

I began this project while I was living at my dad's house after finishing my undergraduate education.  Since then, I have moved to Central Illinois, started graduate school, taken and taught many classes, passed my Qualifying Exam (praise God), joined a research group, and so on.  Of course, there's a lot of other details to be filled in, but I don't want to make this post too long...  Jumping to the present: this semester is getting closer to its end, and although I am now looking at switching research topics, things have progressed very nicely for me since July 2008. The next large chunk of time will hopefully not be as exciting, as I hope to settle down into a good project and start churning out results as soon as possible (This is naive optimism on my part.  Experiments kind of just go slowly all the time).

All that said, let's take a look at this weekend's project.

89. Rosemary Butter Cookies
I had been looking forward to making these ever since I made Cornmeal Thyme cookies last summer, when I discovered that herbs in cookies aren't a bad idea at all.  These are a basic log cookie - that is, the dough is made, formed into a long log and frozen for about an hour, and then sliced into 1/4" thick pieces to make individual cookies - the only difference here is that before being cut each log was washed with egg white and rolled in sanding sugar.  These cookies are your typical mix of butter, sugar, and flour, with about a tablespoon of fresh rosemary added to give them a very distinct flavor.  For those of you who aren't familiar with rosemary, it kind of tastes like pine needles.  Or, I've been told, gin.  The rosemary blends well with the large amounts of butter in the recipe, so that although the taste is unusual, it is not overwhelming.  I think I may hold onto this recipe just for its novelty.


In other news, it's spring break this week, which means the undergraduates are all gone, leaving campus eerily empty.  Tomorrow I will follow suit and make my escape to Pennsylvania for the rest of the week.  The drive is going to be pretty long, but since we're going in a stick shift car, I won't be able to drive, and can instead scramble to make Bonita's second sock.