So whenever the crumby husband and I finally got around to discussing cookie preferences, he not only said that my favorites were old lady grandmaw cookies, but was dumbfounded when I told him I didn't really chocolate chip cookies. He said that was just down right blasphemous--how can someone who loves to bake so much hate chocolate chip cookies? I don't know; I just did. Then my lovely coworker and fellow baker brought in his favorite recipe and I fell in love.

So what makes these chocolate chunk cookies so much better than anything else I've ever had? They aren't super sweet and they bake up oh so soft and chewy. I really love the saltiness of these cookies because they have just the right combination of bam! chocolate with some subtle saltiness to give them great depth. Whole wheat flour, nuts and rolled oats give them good texture and I swear you will not believe their "healthy"--alright so with 10 tablespoons of butter, I wouldn't exactly call these healthy, but in comparison to a standard chocolate chip cookie, you're much better off with these.

My garden is freakin awesome (especially pre-Winter 2009). Unfortunately that winter was just a bit too cold for too long for most of my tropical plants. I still love the look and layout of the garden space though and it was really what sold me on the house. The previous owners wanted to plant lots of edibles and butterfly attractants. Unfortunately most of the butterfly attractants didn't survive that winter either, but I do have plans to start bringing some back into the space.

The edibles are just fantastic though. There are two varieties of banana trees, two varieties of lemon trees, a satsuma tree, a key lime tree, and another mystery citrus that is still pretty young and hasn't produced fruit yet. There is some sugar cane I have yet to figure out a use for and a fig tree that the birds always seem to pick at before I do. There is a strawberry guava tree that I think will never produce fruit here because of winter temps. The grape vines that grow on a trellis above the walkway to the backyard are just gorgeous and our wedding picture standing underneath it is one of my favorites. All of that and those are just the big ones! We have lots of herbs too and whatever veggies I attempt to grow in a given year.

Of everything we have, nothing gets me more excited than the Meyer lemons. I'm like a giddy school girl when I pick the first one of the season and the last one makes me want to cry as if I'm saying goodbye to a good friend. This year the last one made an individual sized lemon icebox pie for National Pi Day on 3.14. This recipe is perfect for anyone who loooovvvvess lemon. It has a bamn! in your face lemony tartness that I loved. If by chance you are looking for a more subtle lemon pie check out Emeril Lagasse's recipe. I made it a while back and really liked it, but since he incorporates cream cheese it has a more mellow lemon flavor that I liked but wasn't exactly what I was looking for.