I baked chocolate chip cookies last night. It wasn't as simple as it sounds. The premise was not just that I was hungry. In a few weeks we will have a European-American night here at UNESCO-IHE, with culture and food, such as the Environmental Science program had a few weeks back. So, after hearing about everyone else's plans to sing and dance (in costume of course), I began complaining about food and culture in the US (thus was delegated to MC). I can't dance. I can't sing. And I don't think I can explain any part of American culture properly or thoroughly in five minutes. Plus I realized that most American food has been either imported (pizza) or exported (McDonalds) already. Except for chocolate chip cookies.
So, first of all, I have no oven, but it wasn't too difficult to borrow one. The second problem was the chocolate chips. I wasn't able to find any. Any. Nor pure vanilla extract (I'm not using that "aroma"). The Dutch are importers, and even though Delft is a small town I thought that I would find some. None. I was afraid that I would need to go to Belgium. Fortunately this was solved by chopping up a chocolate bar (finer next time) and emailing my sister to figure out what part of the vanilla bean to use (after visiting two groceries and a chocolate shop). Then it was time to find measuring cups and spoons. After looking in half a dozen more shops (in the wind and rain on Wednesday, not during yesterday's storm) I suddenly had the epiphany that Europeans measure dry ingredients by mass, not by volume (that's why I saw all those scales). I finally got in touch with my neighbor Juilen (also known as the French cook) and got my hands on a teaspoon and a cup. No cooling rack? I guess newspaper will do. No newspaper? Bin found an Indian paper from a year ago. So I was finally ready.
About three hours and five batches later (the oven was small), I had success. About 20 cookies (and some dough left over too). Well, the cookies were a bit flat, I think because I mixed too much. Regardless, the cookies were amazing for my first attempt. I got the approval of Mijail and Carlos last night when I was able to serve them warm gooey chocolate chip cookies (from their oven) with a tall glass of milk. This morning I completed another unscientific study in the cafeteria during my break from lab ("Here, try this"). Then I got a request from Giorgia to make brownies. I don't think I'm ready for that. Yet.
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