Chef Andrew

One of the last times Andrew spent the night with my mama, they made cookies. Chocolate Chip. Her speciality cookie. So special, in fact, that while in college I copied her recipe and decided to test my baking skills by making the cookies for my roommate and I when we moved into our first apartment. As I pulled into the grocery store parking lot, I realized that I had forgotten my ingredient list. Being that it was the year 2000, I reached for my bag cellular phone and called mama. When I explained my predicament, mama calmly replied, "Oh. Just go grab a bag of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Morsels. The recipe is on the back." I cried, "You mean the chocolate chip cookies I grew up eating. The cookies that I thought were a family recipe are actually just a Nestle Tollhouse recipe?!" I still remember mama laughing at me!


To her credit, she does make a mean Red Velvet Cake. And the recipe can't be found on a box or a bag!

But enough about mama. Let's talk about ME! Or at least my son.

So? What do you on the first day of school after Christmas Break; And you have been talking to you son all weekend about how much fun he is going to have at school; And you actually have your son dressed in matching clothes, with a decent lunch and a clean face; And you arrive ON TIME, only to find the classrooms dark and no cars in the parking lot?!


Well, after making a few frantic phone calls to other mama's to confirm that school starts the next day, you head home and let your baking-obsessed two year old make.......cookies!! Christmas cookies, of course. Because you didn't have time during the holidays to cover your kitchen in red and green sprinkles.

Adding the Christmas sprinkles

Sampling the deliciousness

Just a few weeks late, but still yummy!

And what a better way to help Andrew burn off some of that sugar?! Washing dishes, of course! I think he played like this for about thirty minutes. Or at least long enough for a dish to get caught in the drain, stop up the sink, and by the time I noticed? The water was about to spill over the edge of the sink! Always an adventure in our house.

You know what's funny? Andrew consumed about 8 cookies as we baked, frosted, and sprinkled them. And the next time I offered him one of these cookies? He refused. Every time. Which meant that mama ended up eating the remaining 18 cookies. By herself. Over the course of a week (or so). This little obsession that Andrew has with baking is not good for my post-baby body. Hmmm........maybe we need to find another hobby with fewer calories.