I’ve been cooking and baking since I was eleven years old. That’s plenty of time to collect both successes and disasters.
One of my earliest baking experiments was sugar cookies. We had all the ingredients in the house, and I was determined to make them. The only problem? I didn’t yet understand measurements very well. When the recipe called for a teaspoon of salt, I read it as a quarter cup. What came out of the oven was less “sugar cookie” and more “homemade play dough” left to dry out. I’ll never forget tasting one, wondering if it was salvageable, and then realizing I just had to start over again.
Years later, living with my boyfriend, a neighbor gave me a recipe for microwave meatballs. It sounded convenient enough. Spoiler: meatballs do not cook evenly in the microwave. The outsides scorched into pucks while the centers stayed raw. I learned quickly that some shortcuts aren’t worth it. Meatballs belong in the oven or on the stove top, where they can cook the way they’re supposed to.
Every kitchen mishap has been its own lesson. Salt isn’t sugar, teaspoons aren’t cups, and sometimes the “easy way” is just the wrong way. Still, each mistake made me a better cook — and gave me a good story to tell.
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