Over the past several months and a run of baking successes, I began to think of myself as a Master of the Oven. I indulged in prideful fantasies. I had The Knowledge. I had The Touch. I lived in a world beyond cookbooks.
Of course, only a novice cook thinks this way, and I was -- I am -- a novice. Experience in the kitchen teaches humility, and I had a lesson in that subject this evening. Witness the evidence above -- where I over-reached and, well, failed.
But ... it's a lesson, reminding me that someone once said, "Swallow your pride occasionally, it's non-fattening." Unlike my cookie.
Back to the cookbook.
I have more to write about cookies and baking and what I've learned about baking, about following directions, about adapting and creating, about the gifts of giving, and about the shuttle Challenger. But not tonight.
