In the Kitchen

Until this weekend, I didn’t have a toaster oven of my own, but Candice and Carrie let me use theirs, which was helpful because I like to bake, but also because I am having fun teaching students how to bake. They have never baked before because very few people here own ovens. A few weeks ago, Carrie and I baked a birthday cake as a surprise for three of the students who had birthdays in the same week. They loved it, especially the American chocolate frosting, so the next week two of them asked me to teach them to bake so they could make a cake for their roommate. They came over a few days later and we had so much fun; everything as new to them. I showed them how to measure and mix. They smelled vanilla extract for the first time and almost spat out the unsweetened cocoa powder. I taught them how to lick the bowl and how to test the cake for doneness. When I told them that we had to be quiet and not make any loud noises because the cake might fall, they thought I was teasing them; I had to get Carrie to confirm that loud vibrations would jar the warm air out of the cake and make it flat! In the end, the resulting cake was far from my best, but they were bursting with pride that they had helped bake a cake.

This Saturday I bought my very own toaster oven! I can make bread, cakes, roasts, broiled octopus … so many things. That evening, three different students came over to learn to make cookies. They were shocked at the amount of oatmeal that you put in oatmeal cookies and didn’t like the smell of cinnamon at first. When I started to roll the cookies balls, they were very confused, but I told them to watch as they baked, and they were amazed to watch the cookies slowly melt and spread. After we took the cookies out, the students couldn’t eat them quickly enough. Other students have asked to be taught how to make American foods; I think this will be one of the most effective (and fattening) ways I have to get to know students.

Some foods do appear to be beyond my reach, though. A friend told me that I could make caramel from sweetened condensed milk by submerging a can of it in boiling water for a long time. We thought it would be great to make caramel apples for the Halloween party we’re throwing for the students. I volunteered to try to make the caramel both because it sounded fun and because caramel apples are one of my all time favorite desserts. The first time I tried, I opened the can after about thirty minutes and found … sweetened condensed milk. As an experiment, I poured it into the pot to heat on low, but it quickly and thoroughly burned and I had to spend a long time scrubbing before I could use the pan again. The second time I tried was this Saturday. I boiled the sweetened condensed milk while the students and I were making the cookies. After we took the cookies out, we went into the living room to eat them and forgot all about the milk. Some time later, we heard a loud “pop!” sound from the kitchen and ran back to check what had happened. Sweetened condensed milk (NOT caramel) was dripping from the window screens, the walls, the new toaster oven, and the ceiling. The students were horrified, but I burst out laughing. It’s hard to worry about paint when said paint rubs off if you touch it and flakes off so quickly I’m always sweeping it off the floor. We cleaned up the kitchen fairly well, but I’m afraid the ceiling will always have an interesting speckled pattern.