Kitchen Nightmare

Do y'all ever watch that show on TV? We do. In fact, we watch a lot of cooking shows, especially with Chef Gordon Ramsey in them. I get a kick out of watching people mess up real bad. I like to think I wouldn't be that stupid, but knowing me, I would. lol

Today, I am so very glad Chef Ramsey is not coming to check out my kitchen. It's not as bad s it was, but it sure isn't what it should be. Of course, I'm not cooking for anyone and making them pay for it, but still. If a chef, or anyone else for that matter would have been in my kitchen today, they would have thought I didn't know how to bake. All my cookies, except for 3 pans, stuck, badly. All except 3 pans needed put back in for an additional minute or 2 and never did feel done. As for the rest, most were ok, some got too done and others fell apart to the point we are eating them in pieces. Honestly, y'all if I had managed to goof up this bad in the beginning of my cooking days, I would wait a very long time before trying again. Luckily, I know I am a better baker than I was today. Also luckily, I like bread better than cookies. Ha! I'm better at bread, too. I have messed up my bread before, of course, but not this bad.

What did i try to make? Well, I mixed up a batch of chocolate sugar cookies, a recipe I got from one of Joanne Fluke's books. I can't remember which one. "Apple Turnover Murder" maybe? I don't know. Anyway, the first silly thing I did was tip my mixing bowl too much and splashed hot butter and chocolate on to my hand. It was a yummy mess, but it was hot where it had just come out of the microwave. And, yes, I melt my chocolate in the microwave. Sorry Chef Ramsey. :) Then, I made my dough balls too big and that first dozen didn't get done. Had to put them back in for another minute. After that, some of them stuck to the pan. My recipe didn't say whether to grease the pans or not, so I didn't. Probably should have.

The next batch of cookies was a recipe I found online somewhere. I don't know what they were called, but I call them pecan filled. When I measured out the nuts to put in the bowl, I spilled about half of them out on to the table. My 6 year old was happy to tell me I had made a mess. lol Basically, with these cookies, you make your batter, roll them in balls, press your clean thumb in them and put a pecan mixture in the thumb print. Before I had even finished rolling all the dough out, I had run out of nut mixture. Also, because the last time I made these cookies they didn't rise well, I made them bigger. Mistake. Last time my baking powder and baking soda were old. This time I had fresh, and y'all fresh works better than old. Haha! Needless to say, they spread out way too much, stuck to each other and the pan and made a mess. Tasted good, though, but had to throw a lot of them out.

I put together the flour and other dry ingredients for sugar cookies, but when I saw that last batch of pecan cookies looking that way, I put foil over that bowl, set it aside, cleaned up my mess, took out the trash, poured me some tea and gave up.

Note to self, next time you want to bake a lot like that, get more than 3 hours of sleep. I tried to sleep more, truly I did, but the baby was kicking me most of the night. She had sneaked her way in my bed without my knowing it. By the time she got there, it was too late. I was awake for good.

What's that? I should have went to bed earlier? Well, yeah I should have, but here's that story. See, I got my yarn yesterday that I had told y'all about on Wednesday. I had to work with it a bit. Made myself a pair of my wristers in pale green velvet spun, which is lovely BTW. I finished the second one around 11 and turned everything off so I could go to bed. But, before I made it to bed, I had an idea for my WIP. Knowing I would forget it, I hurried to turn the mac book back on and write. An hour later, I turned it off again, got a drink and hit the sack. So, I think I slept about 3 and a half hours.

Ok, so now a bit about that yarn. The velvet spun, like I said, it's wonderful. You have to be careful when tying it off, though, because the fibers are long and not really tight. For me, paying $5.99 a ball was worth it. I wore the wristers last night when I did my writing. Kept my hands warm, too. As for the angora marino (probably spelled wrong) well, it isn't quite what I expected. It is soft, wonderfully soft. I love the feel of it. But, where it's a real fine yarn, it takes patience to work with. Also, after balling it up and crocheting a while, I felt like I had little fuzz balls all over me. :) I think I did, cause Kierstin said something about me having fuzz balls on me. Ha! I'd say if you are allergic to animal fur, you might not want to buy it or wear it. Would I buy it again? Maybe. I crocheted a chain and one whole roe so far, so I really can't say how it works up, but I think that if one had the patience, it would make a lovely sweater, shrug, or scarf. Thinking of a scarf with this particular bunch. We'll see, though.

So, that's my Friday. How was yours? Some of you have asked for a post about baking, so there you go. Hope you got some enjoyment out of it. I will tomorrow when i can laugh about it. Today, though, I'm just tired. :) Take care and come back Monday. Also, feel free to comment. love hearing from y'all! It keeps me writing.