OK, fine, yes, I am a dork. And kind of dumb, honestly. I just realized that having a laptop means I don’t have to poke my head around the corner from the kitchen to read a recipe I found online — I can bring the whole goddam thing into the kitchen. Maybe I’ve been missing out because I usually don’t have counter space. In any case…quite a discovery.

So back to the dork part. I had a Saturday like most normal people, I think. Got up late and made a frittata for breakfast with the swiss chard that’s been staring at me balefully from the produce bin for a week (mixing it with capers, some leftover roasted potatoes, and unidentified but delicious grated hard cheese — yum!). It looked like a nice day, so we walked over to the drugstore then wandered down Market for a while, Ty left, and I headed to Hayes Valley for some window shopping. I made my way home when the fog started rolling in, stopped to say hello at Bi-Rite, put away my groceries, and suddenly decided I needed to make gingerbread.

Sometimes I get a bug up my ass about a particular food, and I’ve decided it’s best to just go with it. The bug isn’t always something I need to cook — more a food that needs to happen. A couple of months ago I suddenly developed a craving for hot-and-sour soup. I blew it off that night, too lazy to even call for delivery. (I pretty much never get delivery. Makes me feel too guilty.) The next night, same, so I made something Asian at home. Third night — Jesus, OK! Marched over to Yum Yum House, got my soup, enjoyed it thoroughly, and forgot about hot-and-sour soup again.

I told Jee recently about an episode at school during our final class (making food for the restaurant) after our chef let us know that although he had a menu prepared, he would be thrilled to take our suggestions for the next day’s menu. Out of nowhere — skate! We must have skate. Couldn’t have made Chef happier, but I thought it was just weird, honestly. I don’t eat skate much. Well, OK, last weekend, actually, but that’s the first time I’d cooked it since school (with sauce grenobloise, by the way — lots of lemon, butter, and capers — mmmm). Thing is, I just think about food all the time. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked when a left-of-center dish starts whispering in my ear.

So anyway: gingerbread. I really wanted to make the fresh ginger gingerbread highlighted recently by Leite’s Culinaria but didn’t have the right sized pan. On, then, to Nancy Baggett’s Nicely Spicy Gingerbread, to which I added both crystallized ginger and orange oil.

Now it’s 7pm on a Saturday, and my house smells like gingerbread. I may be a dork, but gingerhouse is not a bad thing.