Is There Anything You Didn't Put Inside?
Labels: 100% sugar, home life, she bakes
Monday, February 05, 2007
That was the question my husband asked last night when I showed him what our son and I did while he was away at some Carnival event.
It's Carnival season now (the period just before Lent followed by Easter) and every weekend right up to Carnival Week, there's always some 'thing' going on. These are social gatherings which place in halls where alcohol flows freely (figuratively speaking since one still has to pay) amidst a repetoire of song, dance and stand-up comics.
I dislike it.
More specifically, I dislike the crowds (mostly in fancy dress), I dislike the noise and I especially dislike the traditional songs (oompah oompah music I call it) played during the festivities. During the season, I normally hole myself at home and wait for the madness to pass over. This is one of the cultural things I 'don't get'.
Yesterday, my husband went to one such 'thing'. This time it was a men-only affair which is a kind of tradition here. Back in the day, when the town was a mainly farming commmunity, this was the one day that Farmer Joe could get away from Farmer Jane and their seven pride and joys. It starts from 9am in the morning and lasts right up to the evening.
So while my husband and the entire male population of the family clan were bonding over beer and a revue of shows, I was home with our boy baking away. He wanted chocolate chip cookies while I wanted more of the oatmeal stuff. Since we had time and ingredients on our hands, I thought, what the heck, let's do both.
So back to my husband's question that evening:
"Is there anything you didn't put inside?"
He was alluding to the stuff I piled on in the oatmeal cookies. The recipe called for only raisins but I was feeling experimental so I chucked in whatever was in the cellar. This must be the most hodge podge oatmeal cookie ever. I mixed in raisins, white sultanas, blackcurrents, cherries and cranberries. Sort of like the culinary version of "How many clowns can one stuff into a Volkswagon Beetle?".
Here's what it looks like:
I must say I rather like it. It's a mish mash of tastes with the tartness of cranberries being offset by the sweetness of the other fruit. In contrast, the chocolate chip cookies were just that, plain chunks of milk chocolate in a crispy base with a handful of chopped pecan nuts. For a joke, I made one that was almost the size of a CD. When my son saw it, he went all goggle eyed and asked the usual:
Ah, the innocence of youth...
Oh, and I also need a new spatula now. Kindly observe Exhibit A:
Arrrrgh!!!!
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 7:03 am
