It's been a month since we finished painting in Maine and parted in Boston. I returned to Brooklyn and Stewart went out to Ohio. This week he returned east, but we just missed each other in New York -- I left for D.C. yesterday and he arrives in N.Y.C. today.

Last night, with my friends in Washington, I made a half batch, with questionable brown sugar (dried out, we added water and distilled some syrup, don't know how much, not a lot) and only a little, maybe a quarter cup, white sugar, a mugful (no measuring cups) of bleached all-purpose flour, Ghiradelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips and baking soda, no vanilla, no salt, no oats, no nuts. The dough was not very sweet, but I thought tasted good. In the oven, rather than settle, the cookies puffed up and came out cakey -- too much flour to sugar/butter. I like the chips a lot, better than Ghiradelli's semisweet chips, which are among my least favorite. This morning, my friend took two cookies in his lunch to work. All in all: positive results.

Today, I'm going to get the salted chocolate chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I had when I was here last -- expensive and excellent. When Stewart and I next rendezvous, I hope to recreate them.