adventures in baking
so, yesterday, as spawn and i were on our way to the Evil Retail EmpireTM for some last minute decorating supplies, he turns to me and shocks the hell out of me. i'm paraphrasing here, so bear with me.
spawn: mom, i have to get stuff to bake for a school project. its a major grade.
mom: when is it due?
spawn: tomorrow.
mom: of course. what do you need to bake?
spawn: gingerbread cookies for German.
mom: ...... cookies for German?
spawn: yes. we're supposed to make German food. the recipe is in my backpack.
mom: its a good thing we're going to Evil Retail EmpireTM then.
once upon arriving at our destination, spawn digs said recipe out of his backpack. of course, this takes several moments because he's a teenaged boy and has no organizational skills at all. we take the recipe inside and start looking for those things we'll need. which isn't much. there are, however, a couple of odd ingredients on the list. candied orange peels and citron. you all know what that is...
come on. sure you do.
its some of the stuff used to make fruit cake.
and, once upon a time, stores got that stuff by the pallet load. trust me. i know this. however, at the end of the holidays, stores were marking about ninety percent of their product down because no one buys it. as the years have passed, they've done away with much of the stuff. including, apparently, those two items.
we checked three stores. i called at least three more. no one had any of it. so i said fuck it and we made them without. the teacher is aware we couldn't find any of the fruit stuff. the cookies followed the recipe to the letter other wise. now, the fun part of this was that spawn had to make cookies. so... mom got to take pictures.
parental unit taste tested a cookie before she left for work last night and proclaimed them edible but quite crunchy. chances are good the fruit would have kept them moist. oh well. live and learn. these aren't cookies we're likely to ever make again. but spawn did a good job and i'm proud of him.
it has given me the urge to do my own baking. maybe, if i get that done and over with, i'll finally be able to sit and do something. i've spent the past two days lugging decorations around, putting them up, putting them away, looking through them for things... we have enough of everything for two more trees, probably. no joke. still. the house is festive now, which is more than i can say for last year.
as you can see... it was an adventure and a half. i'm bloody glad its done!
spawn: mom, i have to get stuff to bake for a school project. its a major grade.
mom: when is it due?
spawn: tomorrow.
mom: of course. what do you need to bake?
spawn: gingerbread cookies for German.
mom: ...... cookies for German?
spawn: yes. we're supposed to make German food. the recipe is in my backpack.
mom: its a good thing we're going to Evil Retail EmpireTM then.
once upon arriving at our destination, spawn digs said recipe out of his backpack. of course, this takes several moments because he's a teenaged boy and has no organizational skills at all. we take the recipe inside and start looking for those things we'll need. which isn't much. there are, however, a couple of odd ingredients on the list. candied orange peels and citron. you all know what that is...
come on. sure you do.
its some of the stuff used to make fruit cake.
and, once upon a time, stores got that stuff by the pallet load. trust me. i know this. however, at the end of the holidays, stores were marking about ninety percent of their product down because no one buys it. as the years have passed, they've done away with much of the stuff. including, apparently, those two items.
we checked three stores. i called at least three more. no one had any of it. so i said fuck it and we made them without. the teacher is aware we couldn't find any of the fruit stuff. the cookies followed the recipe to the letter other wise. now, the fun part of this was that spawn had to make cookies. so... mom got to take pictures.
parental unit taste tested a cookie before she left for work last night and proclaimed them edible but quite crunchy. chances are good the fruit would have kept them moist. oh well. live and learn. these aren't cookies we're likely to ever make again. but spawn did a good job and i'm proud of him.
it has given me the urge to do my own baking. maybe, if i get that done and over with, i'll finally be able to sit and do something. i've spent the past two days lugging decorations around, putting them up, putting them away, looking through them for things... we have enough of everything for two more trees, probably. no joke. still. the house is festive now, which is more than i can say for last year.
as you can see... it was an adventure and a half. i'm bloody glad its done!