RobArt Penguin

Daily writing prompt

Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.

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When I was a kid I wanted to surprised my mother by cooking breakfast on the weekend, nothing fancy, hot cereal like cream of wheat. Unfortunately, I substituted salt for sugar in the recipe, but didn’t know it until the cereal was served. My mother, bless her, tried to eat it and find something positive to say. In the end it was inedible and we threw it away. A cup of salt for four servings of cereal made a good salt block for the deer outside. An one-ingredient error plagued my later in life too. When I was a food scientist I was on a team making a new toaster product. There was a rush on the project and we had to come in on a weekend to try a new recipe. A whole crew came in special for the test, including my boss, and his boss. Unfortunately, I used baking soda instead of baking powder and the product came out ruined. It’s funny how one little thing can spoil things. I was certain I would be ridiculed or fired for wasting everybody’s time, but I survived. Salt and baking powder are two things I am careful about now.