Summer Tomato Tabbouleh

Adapted from the Once Upon a Tart cookbook by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau. SALAD 4 servings 1 cup bulgur wheat 1 1/4 cup boiling water 3-4 garden summer tomatoes VINAIGRETTE juice of 1/2 lemon, about 1Tbsp 1 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 Tbsp olive oil a bunch of chopped fresh basil (The recipe calls for 1/4 cup parseley which I'm sure would be delicious, but all I have today is basil, which is very nice also.) Place the bulgur in a bowl big enough for the whole salad. Pour the boiling water over the bulgur, cover it and let sit for 20 minutes while the bulgur absorbs the water. Fluff it with a fork and taste it. If it's still crunchy, add more water and let sit some more. Chop the tomatoes and add to the bulgur. Mix up the vinaigrette and toss it all up in the bowl. Serve chilled.

Chocolate-Dipped Lavender Cookies, or The Best Cookies I Have Ever Had

Adapted from a recipe in Country Home magazine - which I wouldn't normally read, but I found a bunch of decorating magazines on the top of the recycling pile in my building, and I can't resist a decorating magazine, which is lucky for me because I found this recipe for cookies which are quite seriously without any exaggeration whatsoever, the best I have ever eaten. With a pot of Earl Grey tea of course.

1 cup butter - that's 2 sticks
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp lavender flowers
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Soften butter in the microwave and mix it up until it's light and fluffy. Add the sugar and keep mixing. Add the egg and mix some more. Mix the flour together with the baking powder and the lavender. Mix this in with the butter mixture. Drop the dough by teaspoons 2 inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool the cookies completely.
Melt the chocolate. Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate and place dipped cookies on parchment paper until the chocolate hardens.
Makes 48 small cookies.