Eggplant Parmesan

At some point in time, someone told me that cooking was an art and that baking was a science.  Connecting this adage to my surprisingly resilient sponge-textured cake ("Baking powder? Baking soda?  Same thing- right?") and my inherited inability to cook bread without setting off the fire alarm was not difficult.  In general, when I look at recipes in magazines and cookbooks, I usually see them more as "suggestions" than strict guidelines.  Clearly, I fit more in the "artist" category than the "scientist."  For this reason, I have always been kind of scared of the oven, seeing it as this intimidating appliance that required compliance to rules and special instruments to master.  Nevertheless, I have had a lot of free time on my hands and have recently been trying to work within the stringent rules that the oven requires.  Following a recipe to the tee is probably never going to happen for me, but lets just say that I have been taking some of the recipes' "suggestions" a little more seriously. 

One of my more beautiful creations of late was this lovely eggplant parmigiana.   Created with homemade bread crumbs (not because I am super crafty, but more because I didn't decide that I was going to create this masterpiece far enough in advance to purchase actual breadcrumbs) and eschewing Martha's 7000 calorie suggestion of 2 cups of shredded cheese, this little guy came out looking and tasting pretty good.  Enjoy the fruits of my boredom....