Last weekend, Briton made one of those, melt your heart, I love you so much kind of statements you get to hear when your a mom. "Mom, your the best cook EVER! Your even better than the television cooks! Can you make me some of your pumpkin bread because it's sooooo good."
Now before I go on I should clear two things up. First. I am NOT the best cook ever. And I am no where near those gurus of the cooking channel. Last night I screwed up a chicken. A chicken! I'm still mumbling over that one. All I can say is it sucks when your instant read thermometer go haywire on you.
And second, my son is the ultimate complimenter. Don't get me wrong, he's a genuinely sweet little man. We've worked hard to teach him to be kind and loving and to always try to say nice things to people. And he's taken to it like a duck to water. He compliments women's shoes, he tells people they are wonderful. He used to kiss babies and shake hand when we got on planes. For a while we feared that he was heading toward politics with his smooth attitude. He;s good. He's very good. And when he frames a request for something with "your are the best!", it's hard to refuse.
So, with my boy in mind I went to the grocery store to get myself a can of pumpkin yesterday and found...none. Now, I know it's still September and so we are not officially into pumpkin season but, seriously? No Pumpkin? It's FALL PEOPLE! My kid wants pumpkin bread!!
I looked everywhere, I asked and got shrugs, I even went to a second store. No luck. In the end I had to buy a boxed pumpkin bread kit. That is how much I love my son. I'm willing to make boxed bread.
Now along with his request for pumpkin bread came this little nugget of hilarity. "And mom, can you add your secret ingredient? Because it makes it the Best!" Well yes, yes I can. My secret ingredient being zucchini. Which he knows very well. What kid asks you to add zucchini to his food? I know, weird isn't it?
And they were pretty good, for a mix that was all powder (I thought for sure there would be one of those little cans inside the box, what do they do, freeze dry the pumpkin and bash it to a powder, ugg!) it worked out surprisingly well. The chocolate chips helped of course (another secret ingredient, hey, it can't all be healthy!)
But really, grocery stores of Charlottesville, bring out the pumpkin! I'm ready to get down to some serious autumn baking!