Guys like girls with skills....

...like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills...

so, while I'm in Spain I'm going to try and get skilled at cooking and baking! This week, I made buttermilk pancakes (didn't turn out so well, because I didn't have baking soda) and I also made maple syrup from scratch!! yep...1 cup of boiling water, add 2 cups of white sugar, dissolve then add some maple flavoring (I don't remember how much) and  you have maple syrup! Mine turned out a little more runny that I like.

Tonight, I made banana nut, chocolate bread and muffins! Yum!! My muffins turned out well, however, after an hour of the bread baking, it was still mushy and not baked in the middle (I think my first mistake was putting too much  batter in the pan). So, I dumped the partially baked bread onto a cookie sheet, cut off the done outer edge, scooped out the middle not done batter and put that into a muffin tin. Then I baked those all some more and have sloppy looking muffins and parts of bread...but it all tastes the same, so who cares what it looks like, right!?

Also, a couple weeks ago, I made refried beans from scratch (Vino's family recipe and he coached me through it). I hope with great cooks as neighbors that I'll get some good recipes and tips from them so I can one day be a great cook!! I want to be able to cook (good food) for my husband when I get married!!