My son did this Gingerbread House in school. Not bad for a kid who hates art class. But I'm stoked because he now wants to make gingerbread men cookies at home. And hence, my secret wish he'll be a chef one day and cook for me.

I went to our dinky library yesterday in my quest to find a simple, healthy cookbook that will please all the palettes in my family. I thought I had hit the jackpot when I found Nigella Lawson's Nigella Express:130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast. Now, there are essentially two problems I have with this book. One, I'm a great deal of it won't entice a six-year-old, and second, even though the recipes consisted on the average of about five ingredients (bliss), I had never heard of some of the ingredients. This is me we are talking about. It's hurtful. Here are some examples:

Naan
Harissa
Mirin
Emmental (cheese)
Mortadella
Advocaat
Satsumas
So my pride and my pantry are woefully deprived. I'm sure it's all good food, and fast, but I just don't have things like chestnut paste or carmelized onions burning a hole in my cupboard. And for obvious reasons, I can't go shopping today.

Incidentally, it's still snowing 4 hours alter. Hopefully the Minneapolis Schools will declare a snow day tomorrow. Please send Williams-Somona products!!