The Versatility of Pyrex

While on vacation we stayed in a cabin that advertised itself as having “a full kitchen, equipped with pots, pans and various kitchen items to accomodate all your cooking and baking needs while staying at the North Shore.” So, we brought along food, but very few kitchen items. It turns out that the cabin was stocked with MOST things you would need to cook and bake. A few key items were missing, such as measuring spoons, measuring cups, and cookie sheets. The frying pans were also sorely warped, so it was nearly impossible to cook a decent pancake.

Non of this would be entirely noteworthy if it weren’t for the fact that I had a sudden strong craving for chocolate chip cookies right as we were leaving for vacation, so into the food box I threw chocolate chips, brown sugar and other ingredients. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie, and quite frankly, I’d rather eat my own creation than a cookie from a bakery any day. The thought of a warm, soft chocoate chip cookie with gooey oozey chocolate after a hike through the forest was delectable. I got hungrier during the drive north.

When we got to the cabin, it occured to me that I had forgotten some main ingredients for the cookies: vanilla, baking soda, and FLOUR, for crying out loud. Not only would we not be able to make cookies, we also wouldn’t be able to make pancakes. What kind of a vacation is it without pancakes? So it was decided that the next day we would stop at the grocery store and pick up a few things we neglected to bring with us.

And we did. When we arrived back at the cabin I discoverd that we forgot to buy baking soda. We still couldn’t make cookies. And I was getting hungrier for them all the time, even though the pancakes were quite tasty.

So, the day after that we bought baking soda (amidst one of our children, the two year old, having a colossal fit in the grocery store). We arrived back at the cabin to discover that there was no cookie sheet! No cookie sheet! So much for all your cooking and baking needs. But ever the non-fussy cook that I am (or rather, maybe we should say the uncultured, out-of-practice-terrible cook that I am) I improvised with a pyrex casserole dish and guessed about the quantities of ingredients due to the lack of measuring utensils.

It took ALL afternoon to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, that didn’t really turn out that great in the end, but the dough was very tasty. I ate a lot of it.