Cookies!

Today I baked chocolate chip cookies. This was a first in many ways. It was the first time I baked cookies on my own from scratch instead of from a can. Not only that, but I had my mom's recipe, which is in cups, and my host mom's measuring cups, which are in grams.

So in many ways the metric system is much nicer than the English system, with the exception of baking units. All of my host mom's measuring cups have at least 5 different systems of measurement on them, depending on the type of thing you're measuring. There's the flour marks, the liquid marks, and then the mysterious sugar marks. The trouble is, there are at least three different kinds of sugar with different weights and I used two of them in my recipe. How do I know which type of sugar those marks are for? And what if I want to measure something that doesn't have tick marks? She doesn't have a kitchen scale!

Also, why is it that America has managed to export McDonald's and Converse shoes and, of all things, Claire's (the tween girls' accessory shop), but not pre-packaged chocolate chips? I looked in two grocery stores and could not find them, so I gave up and bought chocolate bars with the intention of chipping my own chocolate. I don't know quite how I envisioned doing this in the store... After bashing the chocolate against the counter a few times with no remarkable progress, I pulled out a cutting board and the largest knife I could find and whent from there. Apparently all it takes for me to set aside my fear of large, sharp objects is the quest for chocolate chips.

All difficulties aside, my chocolate chip cookies are delicious. It was altogether a wonderful experience worth repeating.

I have also decided to amend the old adage that first children are like the first batch of cookies - they never turn out quite right. I have decided that they are also the most enjoyable. :-)