Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies

These babies are everything I ever wanted in a cookie. Salty, yet sweet. Crunchy, yet soft. Basically the zenith, nay, the apogee of a perfect treat.

3/4 c butter
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c plus 2 TBSP flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 package milk chocolate chips
2 cups coarsely crushed pretzel sticks

Preheat oven to 350'. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt, beating just until blended. Beat in chocolate and pretzels until combined. Drop by TBSP onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Shrimp Linguine

The only shrimp I ever liked stared at me with baleful eyes from inside a fish aquarium at Petsmart. So you can imagine my delight when this creamy surprise tickled my tastebuds with its 9 billion legs. Yeah, that was kinda creepy, but too bad.

Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. They's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

1 1/2 pounds cooked fresh shrimp
6 TBSP butter
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 TBSP chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta until al dente. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a large skillet. Add garlic and saute briefly to release flavor. Add cream; heat just to boiling, stirring frequently. Lower heat, and stir in shrimp, parsley, basil, and thyme. Continue cooking until shrimp are just heated through. Do NOT overcook shrimp! In case you didn't read that last sentence, DO NOT OVERCOOK SHRIMP. Remove sauce from heat.

Drain pasta and toss with the sauce. Toss again with the cheese and salt and pepper to taste!

Eggs in Purgatory

Also known as Eggs in Hell.

1 TBSP olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onions
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Fresh ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
15 oz can crushed tomatoes
Salt
4 eggs
Chopped fresh basil

Heat olive oil in frying pan. Add onions, red pepper, and a generous amount of black pepper. Cook until the onions are soft. Add garlic and cook until it begins to brown. Add tomatoes and reduce heat. Simmer. Use a spoon to make 4 wells in the tomato sauce and crack the eggs into the wells. Cover and simmer for 4-6 mintues for set whites and runny yolks. Serve with fresh basil on top!