Stahlke Adoption

Trying Something New

"Dad, I'm bored."

One of our older sons couldn't watch TV last night, because his siblings were still doing homework. And it was too cold outside to shoot baskets.

"I'll call Mom at church." He asked me if we had any boxes of brownie mix in the house. "No, I don't have box mixes right now. But you could make brownies from scratch, if you want."

The tone of his voice became uncertain. "I've never done that before."

When I arrived home at 11:00 pm, pans and cookie cutters and ingredients were scattered across the kitchen. The first batch was entering the oven, with a cornucopia of shapes and sizes.

Jonathan, who needs exact directions for his own cooking, explained to me that our son had started with a recipe but then altered it as necessary. "It needed another egg, and some more milk." My can of shortening stood empty.

The cookies turned out wonderfully, tasting like a slightly sweetened shortbread. In fact, they reminded me of cookies we had eaten in Ukraine.

Our son then told me that these cookies were the first ones he had ever made.

posted by Stahlkes @ 12:04 PM