Cookie Scoop

I have been interested in getting a cookie scoop for a long long time.

When I was a kid I loved to mix up the cookies, but hated using the two-spoon process to put the cookie dough on the cookie pans. I turned the kitchen over to my Mom for that and went outside to play. She always did a great two-spoon job.

Now that I have my own home - OK, I've been on my own since High School, but... - I make cookies for the fans at my house! It is so fun that Jun loves cookies. Must be the taste of Mother's Love - or the sugar. Hmmm. Anyway, I have been doing the two-spoon process all the while pining away for a cookie scoop.

On various trips back to the States I have looked for the right sized scoop - whatever that is - and FINALLY found one on my trip this summer. My parents' smallish town has a very very well stocked kitchen store. I paid over my $14 for a cookie scoop - is this NOT expensive? - used it once at home and, when packing to come back to Japan forgot it!

A couple of weeks ago my folks sent a package of stuff I'd ordered and threw in my cookie scoop too! Today I mixed up a batch of cake mix cookies and got out my cookie scoop. I had cookies on the pan in nothing flat.

Then I began to think. (My husband often tells me I think too much.) Each and every cookie is the exact same size. With the same amount of dough. The same shape. They'd be the same color too, if my oven was a bit more uniform in heating. And scooping out the dough really took so little time, the cookies could not be called a labor of love at all. Well, the fact that I started with a cake mix might have made you all wonder about the love, but cake mixes are spendy here, so the fact that I did use one was an expression of love - oh, and thanks to my friend for giving it to me!

So, I'm in a quandary about the cookie scoop. It is the process of baking that helps me relieve stress. That helps me use some creativity. It isn't the end product, though if it is good, I'm happy. It isn't exactly the ease of it, though this blog is called "kantan" (easy) cooking. Being able to do the two-spoon process well was kind of an initiation into adulthood. Anybody can use a cookie scoop.

But, I must admit, I DID pay $14 dollars for it. And it was really easy. And kind of fun. And...well, we'll see if I put it in a box when we move next, or pass it on.

The Diamond Rule

The Diamond Rule - or "Why I Love to Cook - Part I).

So, if I am not really doing much yummy cooking lately, I can at least bend your ear as to why I do so love to cook, right?

My Mom started becoming her family's dinner chef while she was in high school - when her Mom went back to work. By the time I reached late elementary-early jr. high school age, she had been cooking dinners non-stop for about 17 years, I figure. So, she was quite happy to be replaced in the kitchen as much as possible.

I, on the other hand, loved to watch Mom cook. I also hated to peel potatoes, but that is another story. I remember HAVING to taste that bouillon cube. It MUST be chocolate. But it wasn't. I remember shoving chairs around the kitchen to SEE! I remember standing behind the ancient huge white electric stove and watching her make blackberry jelly. We agree that that may not have been the safest place for the kids, but, it made a wonderful memory.

I also hated to wash dishes or clean the kitchen. That I had done since I was able to reach the kitchen sink while standing on a chair.

Thus, the Diamond Rule. If you cook, you don't clean! Pure heaven! Mom had two other kids to send to clean the kitchen, so I was allowed to cook many a meal and then be FREE to return to my book, or whatever.

I know many parents don't let their kids cook if they don't clean up. We never ever had that conversation. And, I love to cook to this day. I was always surprised that my older sister and younger brother never took more advantage of that Diamond Rule!

I intend to keep the Diamond Rule going for Jun, though, with both of us standing at the sink in water up to our elbows, we have some nice conversations, and I hope we will continue to do so for a long long time - even after she does start cooking ALONE!