I’m sitting at my little kitchen table in a shaft of bright sunlight, tapping away on my little tablet, and sipping coffee on an unseasonably warm morning in NE Ohio. I have dough for rolls rising, the dishwasher is running, and I’m trying to decide what to wear to my sons house later this afternoon. Something comfy but not dowdy. That’s a big ask for my work from home wardrobe but I’ll go dig in the upstairs closet where I’ve kept a few nicer things for “what if”. I’m sure I have something that will work.

As I was making the dough this morning I was thinking about this particular recipe and its’ origins. You see, when I was a young woman, still living at home, I hated cooking. Add my ADHD and my distaste for cooking together and, as my father would say, “You could burn water!” I got out of cooking as often as I could. Generally, my sister did the cooking and I did all of the outside yard work. That worked just fine for a few years.

Then I got married and we moved to Germany with an infant. I HAD to learn to cook. After all, I was a wife and mother and it was expected. Like it or not. I struggled. My mom sent me a cookbook one year for Christmas and this roll recipe was in it. So that means my sons have lived their entire lives with me making that one roll recipe.

One year, at dinner my youngest called them “sucky rolls” and I was momentarily offended. “My rolls suck” I asked? No, he says, they suck up all of the broth in the soup and I love them!” He didn’t love soup so much but the rolls made soup so much better to his way of thinking. So he’s called them sucky rolls for about 15-20 years now.

I still don’t like cooking so much. I cook maybe two or three times a week and have leftovers. I don’t want to spend the money for take out, and while I never became a really good cook, the food I get at restaurants never seems to taste as good as mine.

Anyway, I was thinking as I was kneading dough about all of the times I’ve made those rolls. All of the people I’ve fed them to. The times they burned or didn’t raise quite right. It was never something I truly enjoyed but I am thankful for knowing how to make them, for having the opportunity to feed family and friends, and for all of the cooking “lessons” I’ve had over the years through trial and failure. Yeah, I’m even thankful for the failures. In cooking and in life.

What are you thankful for today?

Here is a link to another roll recipe I created. SWEET POTATO ROLLS