Cookie Adventures...

Yesterday my house (meaning me and the girls I'm living with) hosted "Family Night".  The way family night works is every Monday night all the singles (and the married couple who aren't house parents) get together for a big meal at one house.  We rotate from house to house, so you host it approximately once a month, or slightly less frequently, as there are 5 houses it can rotate between.  Last night was our turn, and I made chili and broccoli cheese soup with chicken and potatoes in it.  I got the recipes from my mother (they were actual recipes with only a few statements of "add enough of this").  We also had cornbread and brownies for dessert.  It was good stuff.  Buying the stuff we needed at the store was something of an adventure, because there were a few substitutions that had to be made, etc...but it went well.  So major cooking expedition number 1 a success.  (I have cooked down here, but it was just for my house - Melody and Rachel - so not quite as big of a deal.)

Then, today I went next door to help Scott and Favio make cookies (Andes mint cookies, I need to learn this recipe, it's really good).  Mostly this is guide Favio into making the cookies, teaching him how to follow a recipe, dealing with fractions for ingredients, how to measure and follow directions, etc.  It's a really good learning exercise.  So we get to the part where it calls for two eggs.  Scott is cracking the eggs in a bowl, and I'm looking at the recipe and I hear him start gagging.  I look over, and it appears that the second egg he was breaking had a dead chick inside it.  I grabbed the bowl (fortunately he was breaking them into an empty bowl and not directly into the chocolate mix), took it and dumped it outside while he caught his breath.  I got a whiff of it as I dumped it...pretty potent stuff.  This was repeated two more times until eventually he just decide to throw the whole batch of eggs out.  Fortunately he had another dozen, and the first two eggs were fine, but wow.  Maybe not quite up to "the beast" level...maybe not even "son of the beast" level...but pretty potent nonetheless (for those who don't understand those references, it's an inside joke).  So he and Favio are currently making a compost pile run in the mule while I sit here and write in my blog.  The cookie batter is currently cooling in the fridge.  They should be back pretty soon (actually I think I hear the mule as I write this...the mule is an ATV...it makes a lot of noise).  But that was the adventure in making cookies.  And note to self, never crack eggs directly over the batter...because there could be something nasty inside...hopefully the smell dissipates pretty soon.

Otherwise, I'm doing well.  Tomorrow is a half day of school, and I may be going into the city in the afternoon.  I don't know for sure yet, but the chances are pretty good.  And while everyone back home is just starting or recently started school, I've been in school with students for 3.5 weeks at this point.  Progress reports are due this coming Monday...wow.  Where did the time go?

Have a great day!  Hopefully the rest of this cooking expedition goes as planned.