While we're still rejoicing that two area chefs will be competing on Top Chef starting next month, how about a little instant gratification? We've got a top pastry chef, of sorts. Mei-I Funtanilla, former pastry chef at Serafina, is not a big fan of the big cookie, so she developed her own line and called them Sweet Miniatures. And today, these tiny cookies have found their way to the Rachael Ray Show. (In Seattle, tune to KIRO-7 at 3 p.m.) more ›

BAKE THINGS: Did you read Seattlest Rachael's bomb recipe for molassas cookies earlier this week? They include cardamom, which is an inspired stroke of spice. Today could be your day to try a batch of those. On Sunday, we made Orangette's nutmeg doughnut muffins, and we can highly recommend that recipe as well. Make sure you'll have a few people around to help you consume them, though--those balls of goodness are dense and rich. If you have oranges around (it's Christmas... who doesn't have oranges around?), consider adding a teaspoon or two of orange zest to them. more ›

Our ceiling flooded all of a sudden this morning, after our last post. But what's a little fallen, drenched ceiling when there's a once-in-a-lifetime presidential election going on, eh? We left our friendly maintenance guy to talk to himself, sop things up with rags, dry things out with lamps, and headed back over to the Baltic Room for a little E-Day madness. There were at least as many people there as had been there when we left. Signs were everywhere. Food and drink was everywhere. Someone made Obama cookies, as you can see (delicious! probably all gone now). more ›

You can download the beta 2 version of Microsoft's IE8 if you want. We are not that brave, but you should totally do it and tell us what it's like, maybe after the reinstall. While IE Ocho is supposed to be "quicker" than something slower, the new, counterintuitive feature that has previewing journalists in a lather is something called "InPrivate Browsing" (aka "porn mode"). We say counterintuitive, because Redmond has not established themselves as basecamp alpha of privacy concerns. Yet here they are with a browser that lets you selectively keep or delete cookies. Also, for the rest of today, up is down, black is white. [UPDATE:] Alert reader Bilco tips us off that XP service pack 3 may lock in IE8, so once it's installed, you're stuck with it. Now, that's more like the Microsoft we know and love. Of course a beta install should be permanent. more ›

A friend of Seattlest sent us a link to Cakespy's examination of the history of the ubiquitous pink frosted cookie. Turns out "ubiquitous" only applies in the Seattle area:

If you don't live in Seattle, you might not even know about this cookie (while it exists elsewhere, we've never seen it in quite the same proliferation in our assorted travels); even if you do live in Seattle, you might not have stopped to question why it is that this confection is always around--gas stations, delis, grocery stores, drugstores--everywhere!