I am reminded of the afternoon when I was about 12 and my parents were gone. Thought I'd surprise my dad with some cookies. I got all of my ingredients together. Early on the directions said to sift the flour and set aside. When my parents returned home I was in the middle of trying to figure out what went wrong. The cookies had spread across the sheet and looked like lace cookies. Mom asked me to read the directions again out loud. The light came on when I read sift and set aside. There sat the bowl of sifted flour at the back of the counter. That runs through my mind every time I bake cookies or a cake.

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