kitchen debacles
Posted
Friday, August 10, 2007 7:26 AM
In the past week, I've had three cooking/baking debacles. Debacle #1: When DH and I went out to CO to look for an apartment, we checked out a local church that we had heard about through our friends. For a welcome gift, they gave us one of those fancy jars that contain all the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, minus the perishables. It was really hot that day and we tried to not leave the jar in the car but it must've gotten a little warm anyway because when I went to bake them last week as a thank you to the guy who mowed our lawn, I discovered that the chocolate chips had melted together a little bit. I stabbed at them with a fork long enough to get them all out. Then, I had to conquer the brown sugar, which was harder than a hockey puck. After poking and prodding, I got all the sugar out (while covering my kitchen counter with it as well). By this time, I was hot and frustrated. I had already prepared the butter and eggs and was supposed to add all the other ingredients into that mixture. Well, with all the flour and sugar added at once, it turned into nothing more than a powder. In addition to that, the brown sugar lumps wouldn't break up for anything. So I threw the whole mess away and made Ghiradelli chocolate chunk muffins instead. So much easier!!
Debacle #2: I love tofu, especially the tofu at Noodles and Company. And it's really good for you. So I decided to try cooking it at home. I bought some from the store (I just chose some that looked good, but have recently been told that I didn't buy the best kind) and looked up a recipe online (from a respectable website!) The recipe said to drain the tofu (which I didn't do long enough), cut it into 1/2 inch cubes, and then coat in flour. After heating oil in a skillet (which I also didn't do long enough), I threw the tofu in the skillet and watched the flour coat the bottom of the pan while the tofu remained as white and uncooked as ever. After about 7 minutes of this nonsense, I decided to can it and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. (And I had one of the Ghiradelli muffins with whipped cream--naughty...)
Debacle #3: Just last night, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies (from scratch this time!). DH is returning from Africa today after being gone for 2 weeks and I thought that chocolate chip cookies would be a good way to welcome him home because they're one of his favorite things. Well poo on Toll House because even though their recipe tastes really good, there's one major glitch: they say to use ungreased cookie sheets. That's a big lie. And I fall for it every time!! The first batch, I put onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Those things were harder to scrape off than gum on a sidewalk. The second batch, I got smart and coated the cookie sheet with Pam for Baking. They glided off the pan! At least the whole batch wasn't ruined...
Despite it all though, I haven't given up on cooking and baking. I enjoy learning how to do new things in the kitchen (and I have a lot to learn!) It makes me really feel like a wife. Here's to more kitchen adventures!