Of Gingerbread Cookies and Parsnips

Last week I decided that it was time to make some holiday cookies, i.e. Gingerbread Boy cookies. I found all of the ingredients (you have no idea the kind of joy I felt when I found *just enough* molasses in the back of the cupboard), made the dough, rolled it out, cut out the cookies and baked them. After they had cooled, I laid out all of the sprinkles, non pareils, sugar crystals, chocolate morsels, and icing that I had so that the kids and I could decorate the gingerbread boys.

My son's creation:


As it turns out, neither of my children like the taste of gingerbread. Now what am going to do with all of these cookies??

On a better note, I also cooked with parsnips for the first time. If you have never cooked with this root before, it is like a white carrot, although I have to add that they taste and look more like potatoes. I found the recipe in Ming Tsai's One Pot Meals. My family loved the meal, and I am beginning to think that I don't season my dishes well enough. I used quite a bit more salt and pepper in this dish than I usually do, probably because I was worried that the white vegetable wouldn't taste like anything. In any case, there were only enough leftovers for my husband's lunch the next day; everything else was eaten. Hurrah! I have another favorite chef.