Three recipes under consideration here at Roving Gastronome HQ, aka Winslow Place, aka the Astoria Museum of Obsolete Technology, aka David Bowie Fan Club, Queens Branch:

1) Six-Minute Chocolate Cake

Under consideration? Hell, I’m eating it right now! It’s from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home book, and I’m sure I’ve praised it before. It is the consummate mood-lifter. I don’t usually eat for mental health (by which I really mean, eat a pint of ice cream while watching chick flicks to make myself feel better). But sometimes I crave a little sweet. And this ridiculous cake (as in ridiculously easy) has a proven track record: I ate it practically every other day while I lived in Cairo, and got through the year without jumping to my death from atop my pile of Arabic homework.

2) Caramelized Onion Tart with Poppy Seeds, Bacon and Dates

OK, I already ate this too. Except I didn’t have the poppy seeds, or the creme fraiche it called for. So I used nothing and yogurt, respectively. This is from Ana Sortun’s fantastic book, Spice, which Tamara has already cooked like a madwoman from. But I was out of town for that (and so couldn’t avert the Starch Stampede), so last week I flipped open the book, I Ching-like, and there was bacon and dates. Like a sign from heaven!

The upshot is that, with the yogurt substitution, it basically wound up tasting like the standard pasta I make, a Greek-before-effed-it-up thing with yogurt, caramelized onions and bacon. Now I’m wondering if I should add dates to that?

3) Central Park Egg

“Into a 12-ounce glass draw 1 ounce of blood orange syrup and 1 ounce of pineapple syrup. Into this break an egg, add a few dashes of acid phosphate and a little finely shaved ice. Shake thoroughly and fill with carbonated water, as is done in preparing all egg phosphates. Strain into a clean glass and serve. Charge 10 cents.”

I’m bawling. I don’t know why. I wasn’t even alive when The Dispenser’s Formulary or Soda Water Guide was published, in 1915. I don’t even know what acid phosphate is. Or that things with the word “egg” in the name actually had an egg in them (you’re saying “Duh!” but I’m thinking “Egg cream!”).

Our friend Katie gave Peter this book, and John, if you’re reading this, yes, it should’ve been yours. But spring has sprung, and a whole season of refreshing fizzy-water drinks is about to open. I’m also considering the Mexican Mint Glace (“The name is suggested by the fact that the beverage duplicates the colors of the Mexican flag”), the Hyacintha (American saffron, juniper berries and dates are the first three ingredients–gets crazier from there–but to be fair, I think it’s a fermented business) and, what the heck, the Celery Cocoa (just what it sounds like).

Yes, I’m getting completely stir-crazy. Hopefully when I’m done reading the next book in the stack, Darra Goldstein’s The Georgian Feast(sour plum sauce? Whaaa?), and done eating all this damn cake I made, summer will be here, for real.

PS: I planted grapevines. Can’t wait.