Baker's dozen

It's been 10 years since we last had an oven at home. I used to bake oatmeal-raisin cookies by the batch, pineapple-upside down cakes for my grandmother, cheesecakes for my brother. And then the oven conked out and I never baked anything ever again. Until this week.

I had recently acquired a trusty little oven, not quite big enough for a batch of cookies, but spacious enough to accommodate a 9-in pie plate or a roasting chicken. Definitely better than nothing! I started off by trying my hand at baking food, like roast chicken and fish. And then 2 days ago, I was craving for Lemon Squares, one of my favorite desserts. Thanks to Google, I was able to whip up a crumbly little tart buttery (a little bit too buttery, methinks; must modify that) cookie which I must say, wasn't too bad for my first attempt at baking after a decade!

And yesterday I was craving for brownies. Dark, sinful, fudgy little squares. Google and my trusty little oven delivered.

It doesn't help that I've been reading up on nutrition and have calculated my calorie intake to be 1800 at the most, but I'd like to keep it down to 1600. That's per day, and not per meal! A Quarter Pounder w/ cheese at McDonald's is already 510 calories! That's just for reference. I don't eat there often, and I hardly ever order the Quarter Pounder w/ cheese, much to The Boy's dismay. Hee.

So yesterday I gave The Boy a few squares of each, and asked him to comment on them, my first foray into baking in this millennium. "But it's my job to do the cooking!" was his response. It ain't easy to please someone who cooks wonderfully and whose mom bakes the most delectable goodies! He did say the lemon squares were good, but he'd prefer them with a thicker crust, and the brownies were a tad bit too sweet and could use a bit more chocolate. It just really slid by me though, because I was still grinning over my guy who insists that he does the cooking.

Now if only I could get him to do the ironing. :)