a desert fete

Guys, when it rains it pours. Prompted by a tweet from LPC and the stormy weather I decided on Friday evening that night would be a fine time to bake some chocolate chip cookies. Item number 15 from the list, bake something.* I know, not too lofty of a goal, but honestly I could not remember the last time I baked something (from scratch anyways**). It was CERTAINLY before architecture school took over my life.

I went directly to my favorite source, where I found exactly what I had in mind. Chewy chocolate chip cookies, modified WITH ORANGE zest. YES. I was proud to find that I had all ingredients except two, brown sugar and flour**. Make that three, vanilla extract. I borrowed missing items from my chef neighbor.

As I began the process I was disappointed to be thwarted at the very first step, sift together the dry ingredients. I don't have a sifter. Then, deja vu. I remember needing a sifter in the past, and then it all came back to me. I had baked something in the last x years.

It was the Christmas before last, and despite being in the middle of writing my thesis, I decided we should host a gingerbread house making party. I told our guests (at least 15 of them, I think, but with couples sharing a house) that I would supply the ginger bread parts, and everyone just needed to bring trimming. Easy, right?

The night before the party I came to be literally sitting on the kitchen floor, long past realizing I didn't have a sifter (let alone a mixer), trying to mix together all the gingerbread dough. There was a lot of dough. Ben had fallen asleep on the couch as it was way past our bed time. I was nearly in tears, with ingredients all over myself and the floor, because there was something dreadfully wrong with the consistency. I had forgotten to add to molasses.

All ended well. It was a fun time, and everyone got houses. But I got SCHOOLED in the challenges of baking.

Fast froward to Friday, baking my cookies. It was a *much* less stressful process. Sadly, I do not know my oven (or any oven) and I put the cookies in after cooking dinner. I think it was too hot. The first batch was burnt. But hey, learning curve, right? The second (much smaller, probably to my benefit) batch was perfect.

*yes, i know the irony that in one day I did a list activity exercise related and one that would negate the benifits in the same

**at our Christmas brunch a friend, who plays drums in the band Ben plays in, a total 20 something bachelor, brought a home made apple pie. I must have asked him 5 times if he made if from scratch before i believed him.

***the only reason I had chocolate chips is because I never got around to making the candied oranges I literally swore I would make