When I am nervous I tend to cook and bake. I was (and still am) super nervous today. I do not like it when the Patriots play the Jets. I do not like it when the Patriots play the Steelers, either – but I am taking it one game at a time. I am not enjoying this game. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The game started at 4:30 this afternoon. I made myself get up at 9 o’clock this morning (I have been falling asleep later than normal these days and thus sleeping much later than normal in the morning, too – getting up around 11. Reverting back to the college years, I guess.)

I had a lot of time to kill before the game. I cleaned my room. Sorted through some old thesis notes, drafts and con law documents. [I even threw some stuff away – quite an accomplishment for me!]

I went to Target and the grocery store. I picked up the couple of ingredients I needed for Bittman’s Pasta e Fagioli. If you have been reading the blog for a while you might know two things.

1. I love Mark Bittman.

2. I adore the pasta e fagioli soup. It is one of the best soups I have ever had – or made, for that matter. It is the most perfect soup for the winter time. It was a great day to make the soup, apparently we (here in New England) are about to enter a hard freeze. Yikes!

So, I got busy making the soup.

Slowly we got closer to the start of the football game. I chopped vegetables to relieve my stress.

I sauteed onions and garlic in olive oil. I added crushed tomatoes, beans and (the most perfect ingredient) fresh rosemary. So Lovely.

The soup was on its way. I still had a lot of stress. So I decided to bake:

The first batch was chocolate chip cookies, traditional.

The second batch was chocolate chip, coconut and nutmeg cookies! I just added the extra ingredients, and things came together pretty well. Luckily I had two taste testers – my mom and sister. They loved the new twist on the traditional cookies.

Anyhow. So, I’ve cooked. I have baked. I am still stressed and I do not know what to do. I think I will probably pour myself a glass of wine.

Happy football everyone!