Now, allow me to defend myself before you attack me as an incompetent lady. I CAN cook, I can bake, I can clean, and I can organize a house-- my momma taught me how. But sometimes I just don't like too. In the case of cooking, I just, get, well . . . I get bored, and irritated, and lazy. If I'm cooking with friends, then it's fun. If I'm cooking with my mom, it's usually fun (besides all the teasing). I will admit that I am a klutz, and often, that carries over to the kitchen at the worst possible times. Like on Christmas eve . . .
Preparing our annual neighborhood "Christmas Run" requires lots and lots of cookie making. With at least 15 families to deliver cookies too, we have dozens that require lots of TLC and cooling racks. Determined to set my mom straight, I stationed myself in the kitchen, donned an apron, and began to follow directions.
"First, I need you to make the brown sugar. Grab the molasses from the top shelf in the cabinet and mix it with this sugar. No, keep mixing. I still see spots. Oh, that was a clump, never mind. Good job."
Naturally, when it came time to mix all the ingredients together, I went to the drawer where we kept the blender. Not only was my mom surprised that I knew where it was, she also questioned my ability to use it!
As I deftly attached the metal mixing prongs to the bottom of the ancient motorized machine, I anticipated my next move. To constant admonitions of "Careful, not too fast" and "Slooooowly" I began to mix the wonderful cookie dough. Obviously I did fine. That is, until the very end. I was a little hasty in pulling out the machine, and didn't wait for the prongs to stop rotating, resulting in a slight . . . splash. This mishap was greeted with an outburst of laughter from both my mom and I. After dropping egg shells into the batch soon afterwards, I had officially proved the delicacy of my place in the kitchen--again.
Other things Elena is doubted for in the kitchen:
-Peeling garlic (who doesn't know how to do that??)
-Cutting bread (I have graduated from past diagonal cuts to straight up and down!)
-Mixing anything
-Boiling eggs
-Making rice
-Making anything besides lasagna and spaghetti
Things Elena is looked UP to in the kitchen:
-Homemade ranch dressing
-Making salad
-Making lasagna and spaghetti (with sauce from scratch)
-Popping popcorn
-Putting leftovers into storage containers
-Sweeping
Here is the delicious dough for our gazillion cookies. We all survived the splashing and dropping, and this batch of cookies came out fantastic! So you see, I can cook and bake, but definitely in my own way. :)
"First, I need you to make the brown sugar. Grab the molasses from the top shelf in the cabinet and mix it with this sugar. No, keep mixing. I still see spots. Oh, that was a clump, never mind. Good job."
Naturally, when it came time to mix all the ingredients together, I went to the drawer where we kept the blender. Not only was my mom surprised that I knew where it was, she also questioned my ability to use it!
As I deftly attached the metal mixing prongs to the bottom of the ancient motorized machine, I anticipated my next move. To constant admonitions of "Careful, not too fast" and "Slooooowly" I began to mix the wonderful cookie dough. Obviously I did fine. That is, until the very end. I was a little hasty in pulling out the machine, and didn't wait for the prongs to stop rotating, resulting in a slight . . . splash. This mishap was greeted with an outburst of laughter from both my mom and I. After dropping egg shells into the batch soon afterwards, I had officially proved the delicacy of my place in the kitchen--again.
Other things Elena is doubted for in the kitchen:
-Peeling garlic (who doesn't know how to do that??)
-Cutting bread (I have graduated from past diagonal cuts to straight up and down!)
-Mixing anything
-Boiling eggs
-Making rice
-Making anything besides lasagna and spaghetti
Things Elena is looked UP to in the kitchen:
-Homemade ranch dressing
-Making salad
-Making lasagna and spaghetti (with sauce from scratch)
-Popping popcorn
-Putting leftovers into storage containers
-Sweeping
Here is the delicious dough for our gazillion cookies. We all survived the splashing and dropping, and this batch of cookies came out fantastic! So you see, I can cook and bake, but definitely in my own way. :)
