...I can cook, but I can't bake! Brian and Jack think I look a little bit like her too, but I think they just say that because they both have a crush on her.

Tuesday evening Jack, Tor, Carol and I finally took my mixer out of the box and Carol showed me how to use it because I have a problem with reading directions (you would think I was a guy!). I got it with Amazon gift certificates I received from using my Amazon/Chase credit card. I love my Amazon credit card. I used to use Discover, but most of the cash back rewards were for things I didn't use or want and a lot of them have to be used in person at the store, not online.

With Amazon I can redeem the certificates for anything on their site and as you know they have EVERYTHING on their site. Usually I buy the kids books, or toys or strollers, but sometimes I buy myself some books and one time I even indulged on a KitchenAid mixer.

So my gorgeous mixer has been sitting in its box under my desk for about 6 months. It was there when Carol visited in October and it was still there this visit, so she took it out of the box for me. Jack and I attempted to make sugar cookies and corn bread muffins while Carol kept Tor busy but still watching us.

The sugar cookies went fine. All you had to do was beat 13 tbs of butter (sheesh that is a lot) then add two eggs and the whole package of mix. The part of the directions I failed to read, that Carol caught, was that the dough had to be refrigerated for at least 2 hours. It was already nearing the kids bedtime, so we just left the batter in the fridge overnight. That went pretty well.

Then we got out the cornbread mixture. There are two different recipes, one for the bread and one for muffins. Jack wanted to make muffins. Somehow I managed to read both sets of directions while we were adding the ingredients, not really a disaster, I caught myself and added extra water and then I thought I had used too much honey, but it turned out that part I had read correctly somehow. Sounds good right?

So Jack and I started to add the whole package of mix and as we were doing it Carol looked over and said, "are you sure you are supposed to add the whole thing?" Whoops, nope you were only supposed to add 2 cups. She told us before we added the whole thing and it seemed like it was ok. The batter looked fine so we went ahead and scooped it into the muffin pan and stuck them in the oven.

I had the oven preheated for the sugar cookies so it was all set. I stuck them in the hot oven and walked away. Carol reminded me that I had it on the wrong temperature (too hot) and that I had to set a timer for 14 minutes. Ugh. This is why I can't bake to save my life. I mean how hard is it to follow directions written on the side of the box? I just can't seem to do it.

When I cook I don't follow directions either but the results aren't inedible. I haven't met a recipe that I haven't changed in some way as I am cooking. Hmm, I like this ingredient, I am going to add more, yuck, I don't like this one, I am going to replace it with this. That kind of thing. Then I rarely time things, when it looks ready, I take it out and I am done.

The sugar cookies turned out great, we made them into transportation shapes...different kids of cars, airplanes, trucks, trains, rockets and of course fire trucks. Carol did teach me that there is a cutting side to the cookie cutters, I had no idea.

The corn bread was awful, too gritty and dry, guess there was more than two cups of mix. Jack was the only one who wanted to eat them, Tor took one bite and started crying and gave it back to me. Poor baby.