Suddenly, I don't feel so all alone.... ;) I have forgotten to put the salt in my bread: thrown bread dough into the compost pile because I'd forgotten the yeast (I no longer do this because I have learned how 'forgiving' flour can be), and I have tried substituting regular sugar for brown sugar in a Toll House cookie. I'm also guilty of baking the package of giblets in the chicken or turkey cavity, because I didn't know it was, 'in there'....oh yeah! When my youngest daughter asked if she could bake muffins one evening, I gladly cheered her on; could I be so lucky as to have a child that loved to bake, too? I sat on the sidelines and eagerly cheered her toward her goal. At some point a brain fog hit me and I failed to notice that she was adding 1/4 cup of salt to her batter. It wasn't until the muffins were baking, and the volcanic eruption, that I asked if she had made any substitutions. She suddenly caught her mistake .. the measuring of her salt! As bake time continued, and the lava flow of Mt. Etna subsided, the timer eventually chimed that the muffins were done. As we waited for them to cool, we made ourselves a promise: "Let's try them, maybe they'll be okay in spite of the mix-up." We'd like to think our earthworms were happy. I know my daughter and I shared a special moment that day; we'll share it for a lifetime! We get to laugh at each and every culinary mistake, even if it takes cursing through the cleanup(s). ;)

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