Have you ever seen the Dilbert cartoon The Knack ? Everyone has a knack for something, right? My engineer husband, who most certainly has "the knack" can't spell worth beans. I'm always dumbfounded when I read a "professional" email he is sending out by the number of words that pop up as he runs a spell check on it. I've never used spell check in my entire life (though I probably should, since, even we natural spellers are guilty of typos). When it comes to spelling, you either have it or you don't.
The same thing goes for languages. I've sat through many a language course in college or at the MTC and watched others (bless their hearts) painfully struggle to grasp what always came too easily to me. My thought was always along the lines of : can they not hear? How much repetition is required for them to "get it"? Of course, I coupled this with feeling sorry for them, knowing that it certainly wasn't a lack of effort that contributed to their toil and strife.
Recently I've discovered something I definitely do not have a knack for. This is not to say that I'm good at everything I do, only that I've finally found a skill I actually desire that completely evades me.
I can't bake bread. Try my cinnamon rolls, they're quite delectable. Dinner rolls? I figured that one out a few years ago (though I still experience an occasional "bomb"). There's just something about baking a loaf of bread that makes me look like a complete idiot. It turns out doughy in the middle, it fails to rise enough, it lacks elasticity, the texture declines rapidly... you name it, I've experienced it. My mother and a friend of mine even introduced me to two delicious recipes that I have attempted on dozens of occasions and never gotten quite right. What is wrong with me? Is it really that fine a science? Or is having "the knack" the only recipe for success?
I'll keep bumbling along, like a retard, but at some point my attempts at being healthy and domestic may be foiled by my aversion to failure. For now, anyone got any bread-making suggestions?
2 comments:
Bread machine.
Won't work beans without electricity, though. So much for trying to be self-reliant.
I think it's amazing you've figured out dinner rolls. My dough never rises!!
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