bliss list #2: baking

i love to bake. there's just something beautiful about taking raw ingredients and making something useful.

tonight i made cookies. not just any cookies--my great grandmother's chocolate chip cookie recipe. they are, by far, my favorite.

think about the ingredients...

• flour, salt and baking soda: essential, but no one wants to eat a spoonful alone.
• vanilla, sugar and brown sugar: sweet, but who wants to eat a spoonful of those either?
• eggs: eating them raw could kill you. seriously.
• butter: eating two sticks of that could probably kill you too. over time, at least.
• and then you have the semi-sweet chocolate chips: they certainly don't taste like a chocolate bar. they are far more bitter than sweet.

none of those ingredients alone would taste nearly as delicious as they do when combined to make great grandma's chocolate chip cookies.

i bake to be reminded that i'm not alone, thank God. i bake to remember that i am but one ingredient in the larger mixing bowl of life, and that thankfully i am mixed together with some pretty awesome people. and with them, i'm part of something delicious too.