Summer 2013 Goal: Learn How/New things to cook (With the First Amanda Baking Story)

I have always enjoyed being in the kitchen and making foodie things although I have not always created edible wonders of culinary awesomeness.  When I was in sixth grade we were doing Christmas at my grandparents for what seemed like weeks because Pappy was having open heart surgery.  The day of the surgery, my brother (in fifth grade at the time) and I were left at the house.  I thought it would be swell if we made cookies for when the rest of the crew got home.  We had made Christmas cookies (a whole other crazy story) with my cuckoo class at Central, and so I was practically a master, of course.  Sometimes I have been under the misconception that I have a photographic memory (not the case at all!) when really I am quite forgetful.  I was positive that we used wax paper to line the cookie sheets for baking.  I also had no concept of how much of what to mix in to my cookie dough; seriously, I was just going, "little bit of this and a little bit of that."  Grandma Rose can bake like this; Amanda Rose CANNOT!  I have learned that recipe cards and the internet are my friend.

Being 1995 however, with no internet to save me from the error of my ways, I enlisted the help of my brother to create what looked like zombie cookies in the end (for real, I think if you ate them
they would turn you into the undead-they were terrifying).  Everything melted and became some kind of hardening goo like concoction; it was a hella-mess.  I was quite aware that these couldn't be eaten by the more senior members of my family; I also decided they couldn't be seen for fear of mockery (the Richardson clan has been known to retain crazy joke stories like this for generations).  I didn't want them to go into the garbage because, duh, people would see them and be like, "hey, what is the toxic sludge that is leaking radioactivity into the kitchen?"  So I did what any sensible older sister with inedible food product would do-get the younger brother to eat them.  My 28 year old self is looking at my twelve year old self going, "yes, you did that to poor Tom, you awful, ridiculous sister!" Well, he made it through about two bites before abandoning that plan and helping me to bag them up and hide them under things in the trash

Well, despite our super stealth hiding skills, our cooking debacle was still found out by the senior family members.  A couple things I learned from the experience: 1) Tom is a picky eater but a team player, thank goodness for having such a great brother (who else would eat zombie cookies to save their sister from family shame).  He did tell my family later that I tried to make him eat the cookies, but in all fairness, I deserved that (it still makes me laugh so much).  1a)  Of the people who will eat pretty much anything in the whole world, I now know I went with the wrong sibling; yes, Sarah, if I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now, I would probably try to get you to eat the cookies and not Tom. 2) if you line cookie sheets with wax paper, you may cause a house fire-this was the most alarming detail for my parents/grandparents which in hindsight, yes makes total sense.  That business will catch fire if heated up too much and thank the Lord I did not add one more stressor on what was already a rough week for my family.  3) Recipes (and the internet-what did we do in the 90s without it and/or cell phones) are my friend; I am not an artist in the kitchen and I do not understand the chemistry of ingredients to do the "little bit of this/that" method of cooking.  I am more mathematician and formulaic; I need the plan, the list and the steps in front of me to make foodie awesomeness work. 

I have improved in my domestic abilities, and this summer I am trying to push myself even further in my understanding of kitchen creations.  We have subscribed to a farm share with a co-op of growers in the local area.  Every week we receive a small share of vegetables as well as some eggs, ground beef, and chicken.  My hope is to learn some new tricks and develop some new tastes for home.  I am a creature of habit; I could eat spaghetti with creamy sauce and broccoli all the time.  This summer I want to be pushed outside of my usual eating box and try some new things (not meat, Mom, sorry).  Plus, supporting local farmers who create fresh, not antibiotic loaded, genetically-modified products is always a good endeavor.