It’s taken me 51 years to get around to baking cookies. Honoring Mother’s Day and my mom’s own tradition it seemed time to try.
As a diabetic, chocolate chip cookies don’t work too well (yeah I know there is imitation chocolate), but recently I noticed in the inside of the Quaker Oats bin was a recipe for Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies.
I had everything, including Splenda for sugar, even some Brown sugar substitute. I did lack backing soda, but found on the internet I could use 3 times the amount needed of baking powder, which I did have. All of these substitutions are sources of potential ruin of the recipe.
To me, cooking is all experimentation.
I was surprised to find I actually had a mixer, tucked in a cabinet above the fridge.
flickr photo shared by cogdogblog under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license
And thus I baked solo my first batch of cookies.
The question of course is, how are they? Well… they are not horrible! They could be a tad sweeter. But I am pleased.
flickr photo shared by cogdogblog under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license
Before I took this photo, I managed to drop the plastic box on the flower and lost a few more cookies. This stuff is challenging!
I can imagine my Mom’s laughter as I tell her of my experiment. That is a laughter of encouragement, and of enjoying the silliness. I sure miss that laugh.
Strangely enough another Mom-ento moment was when I found these two small metal knives in a box, each with an American Airlines logo:
flickr photo shared by cogdogblog under a Creative Commons ( BY ) license
Yes, these were in her house. Mom had this, well, embarrassing habit of taking silverware from restaurants. It was not frequent nor an kind of kleptomania; she would just see a utensil that she admired, and somehow rationalized slipping it into her purse.
It happened once when I was 12 in Williamsburg, VA, she could not resist the large spoon. In a drawer in her kitchen we found a big fork from Outback steakhouse. And even a small tea pot from a Chinese restaurant. And these two American Airline knives, I can imagine her marveling at how small and light they were.
It’s quite a throwback, given that airlines do not even serve you meals anymore, much less ones with metal cutlery.
And now what was once an embarrassing habit is endearing. It”s those quirks in ones we love that become even larger when missed.
Appreciate the quirks you see in the people in your life. I may just hand you a bag of dry cookies.
That top photo of the cookies is mine, and as usual, it is licensed Creative Commons By Attribution. I would add more normal flickr creative commons credit statement, but the changes flickr made in their service made it impossible for me to upload all my photos tonight. This is a quirk I am not loving.
Really cool what you tried w the cookies (all the substitutions looked dangerous but like u i treat cooking as an experiment and it usually works out alright ; edible at least). Why do you have difficulty getting baking soda? It should be available in most supermarkets. I remember skipping recipes with it then liberating myself by just getting it. Great for muffins if i remember well (i haven’t made muffins since i returned from maternity leave…hmmm maybe i should).
Re your mom’s quirk, at first i was thinking, why would he tell the world about this now? How would his mom feel? But then i realized what u were doing – ur looking at it as an endearing thing. And you feel she didn’t think of it as a bad thing either. And you’re right it makes the simple knives now seem like a museum item 🙂
Long flights still serve food tho 🙂 just w plastic knives (unless ur on business or first class i guess)
I don’t live near a supermarket and did not feel like driving for just one thing; I try to make do with what’s in the house…..
This is a delightful post.
My mom has sets of salt-and-pepper shakers from airlines and cruise lines. I point out that they clutter her basement, but she replies that you never know when you’ll need them, and they’re free….
I’m looking forward maybe to your third batch of cookies.
I hope in true Mom tradition that you shared some cookies with friends and didn’t eat them all yourself!
I’m not as good, neither are the cookies. But alas I will take some to yoga tomorrow