Nestle Tollhouse Cookies. Or Neslaaaay Tohlhooose as Phoebe from Friends would say. They are a classic, right? I needed a refresher course on the recipe tonight, so I turned to my most favorite recipe site, All Recipes. One of my favorite things about All Recipes are the reviews that people can write. I find them really helpful, and I almost almost choose my recipe based on reviews and stars. While waiting for my butter and sugar to reach the appropriate creaminess, I scanned the reviews. This cracked me up.
“These cookies just didn’t turn out like I wanted. I was out of brown sugar so I just used powdered sugar and added maple syrup to it. I didn’t have any butter on hand so I substituted lard mixed with butter flavored sprinkles. All I had on hand was bread flour and for the chocolate chips I chopped up a bar of unsweetened baking chocolate. Also my oven wasn’t working so I fried the cookies on the stove. Other than that I followed the recipe faithfully. I can’t figure out where I went wrong.”
Obviously that is a joke. But I am always amazed at how many people give a recipe a bad review when they have seriously changed like 5 of the ingredients of steps. They will say things like ” I thought this chili was so bland! It’s not spicy at all. I was out of Tabasco and chili powder, but I just used ketchup instead. Don’t make this chili-it’s bland!” Are they serious?
I think that there are two types of people. Those who cook using a recipe and those who just look at ingredients on hand and work some kitchen magic. I would love to be in the second group like my friend Beth. She seriously makes the best chicken enchiladas. But she doesn’t really have a recipe, she just waves her magic kitchen wand and poof. Yummy chicken enchiladas. She is like that with everything. I would love to be one of those kinds of cooks. I’m not really a bad cook (at least I don’t think so…) but I like and need my recipes. This is one of those things on my list of things to accomplish.
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I got a fun email this afternoon. Two of my scrapbook pages are going to be published in an idea book! I really didn’t think any of my pages would get picked up, but I was two for two for this book. I am sure it will be months before it comes out, but it’s still exciting. I’ve had a few other cool scrapping things happen in the past few months. A mini-album I made (the one that won a grand prize in a contest a few months ago) is going to be published in the Mini Albums II idea book, and I had the opportunity to design a set of alphabet stamps (joyful jots) for Upsy Daisy Designs. So there’s some fun scrappy news.
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Daylight savings time. It really wreaks havoc with my early-to-bed kiddos. Once they get used to going to bed in broad daylight, it’s not too bad. But that transition time…it’s not pretty. And daylight savings time plus spring break plus some huge thunderstorms limiting our outside time…let’s just say I count down the minutes until Derek gets home. Don’t get me wrong… I love playing with the kiddos. But there are only so many art projects, train games, books, and Dora’s we can watch in one day.
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No post is complete without at least one picture. I spy with my little eye a little Connor monkey.
I’m a big fan of allrecipes too! I too love to read the reviews! That one is great! I’m glad your cookies turned out good!
Congratulations on the Scrapbook stuff!!
oh my gosh, those stamps are cutie! is that a megan original font? i think i need a handwriting font lesson from you now:)
**Great blog entry! Wish I could be one of those “poof” magic kind… but I’m not! So I play it safe and go strictly by the directions. 🙂
Congrats on getting published… and Oh yes your layouts are awesome… you definitely deserve to get published my friend! Luv the pic of Connor… he’s darling! (Yea for spring! I blogged about it too.) Have a good day!
Mike is the 2nd type of cook. I try to copy what he does…but it never turns out the same. One time I even counted how many “shakes” of a certain seasoning he put in his salsa! LOL! I’m definitely a recipe girl.
Congrats on getting your stuff publish! I wish I had the creativity to do things like that.
I am a recipe follower, too. I can cook fairly well (or at least am getting better), but I still need my recipes.
You designed a set of stamps??? That people will buy and have in their scrapbook stuff?? You are seriously the coolest person I kinda know!
Recipe girl here too! I would LOVE to be the other type of cook. My mom is like that. We all know that we can’t ask her for her recipes because she doesn’t have any. She just cooks whatever her little heart desires. That’s definitely one of my goals. I know it probably won’t happen any time soon, but eventually I’ll get there. Maybe this just comes with time and experience.
JB