Official taster

Betty Crocker isn't a real person. I didn't believe it the first time I heard it either. It is, however, true and makes me feel totally scammed by sneaky cookbook executives.

I have liked to bake as long as I can remember and have spent countless hours reading Crocker cookbooks. My first recipe was a shake I made up for my all too lucky Dad. I'm guessing I was around 4 since my parents were still together. The ingredients: strawberry powdered milk, an egg, flour, and water (and who knows what else). I remembering being too impatient for him to come inside so I took it outside where he was and watched him take the smallest fake sip possible. He told me how good it was with a little pat on my back. I excitedly told him how I made it and I'm sure he excitedly threw it out on the grass when I wasn't looking. Remember the part where I put a raw egg in it? You have to be pretty sneaky as a parent to unload a shake under such watchful eyes. Not as sneaky as being a cookbook executive however.

Brynner also loves loves loves to bake, or 'make' as he calls it. He has made up his own recipe too, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of vanilla. Luckily he has just told us about it and not actually made it and eagerly watched as I took the smallest fake taste possible. I'm sure the day will come that I'll have to take fake bites because he'll mistaken salt for sugar, Tbl for tsp, or better yet, I'll find a rubber band in his peach cobbler.

Until then, he can be my official taster of all things delicious. It's a job he takes very seriously.