The Intrepid
Baker and Her Critics
by Stacey Tol
“What’s
that smell?” my daughter asked, wrinkling
her nose as she walked into the kitchen.
“Vinegar,”
chorused her siblings from the adjoining room.
They’d asked the same question moments
earlier.
“Why?
What are you making?”
“Um,”
I hesitated as I tried to put the best spin on my
latest Pinterest find, “I’ve never made
it before.”
“Does it
have a name?”
“Well…”
I kept stalling.
“Is it
savory or sweet?”
“Sweet.
It’s a Polish dessert called…’Vinegar
Rolls,’” I finally admitted.
“Sounds
delicious,” she said in a tone that clearly
meant, “I would rather eat cold gruel”
Armed with a
ruffled apron and oven mitts, I opened the oven
door to baste the top of the cinnamon-sugar pie
crust roll with more of the vinegar sugar syrup.
As the searing, acidic fumes blasted from the
oven blinding me for a heartbeat or two, I
contemplated my offspring’s lack of
appreciation.
So many
families get stuck eating a rotation of the same
dozen meals week in and week out! How many would
love to give up their humdrum pizza for a chance
at something different and amazing? Malaysian
laksa maybe or Czech svickova. My
children were ingrates!
Sure. There
had been some Pinterest fails. There was the
gluten-free cloud bread that tasted like eggy
Styrofoam and the multi-layered baumtorte that
took hours to make and was significantly less
tasty than a box of instant brownies.
On the other
hand, there were huge wins. Who knew that lasagna
soup would be such a crowd pleaser or that lemon
zucchini cake could outpace its chocolate and
vanilla relatives?
When the fifty-minute
timer finally sounded, I pulled the golden pastry
out, fully prepared to revel in it. Afterall, the
recipe’s reviewers had raved! There were
mentions of grandma, secret family recipes, and
the scent of Christmas. With my first bite, I
realized those reviewers had either played fast
and loose with their commendations or had been
blinded by the fuzzy spectacles of nostalgia.
“It’s
not bad,” I said, covering my serving of
pastry with a healthy scoop of ice cream, “but
it’s not a do-over.”
“Did the
name ‘Vinegar Rolls’ not make
that obvious?” my son smirked.
“I wasn’t
expecting the vinegar to be so overpowering,”
I defended.
“Mom. Do
you expect apple pie to have a lot of apples?” Fine.
He made a good point.
Ah well, live
and learn. Maybe I’ll have more success with
my next baking attempt. There’s a chocolate
onion cake recipe I’m curious about. One
reviewer gave it five stars!
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