It's an Art

Every year, the MBA's do an auction, and the faculty are "invited" to donate things for charity. Most of the time it's some kind of service, like cooking an authentic international meal or lessons in various things. Between Ryan and I, the best we could come up with was me making some cinnamon rolls (who doesn't love cinnamon rolls?). I am sure had we offered to make dinner for someone--authentic or not--the winner of the auction would have wanted their money back simply due to the chaos that would have surrounded the meal, and the fact that my cooking is generally pretty subsistance-level.

So, back to the cinnamon rolls. That's one thing I do well. But there was a catch that I was unaware of. Actually, two catches.

The first one I found out last week. Ryan had auctioned off not just any cinnamon rolls, but the BEST cinnamon rolls in the WHOLE WORLD. Yikes. Talk about pressure.

I decided on a whim to try out a new recipe from allrecipes.com that had a couple thousand stellar reviews ("clone of a cinnabon"). I did it twice, and in the end I'm sticking with my "Basic Rolls" recipe from Ryan's Aunt Mona. It's a keeper.

Surprise number two came a couple of days ago when Ryan arranged with me a day to take them to the students and let me know he had told them they'd be fresh. As in straight out of the oven. And he had promised them he'd bring them in at 8:00 a.m.

Um...es imposible. Maybe the roll-goddess (that's you, Delsa) could pull that one off without waking up at 5:00 a.m., but I'm only a humble disciple, and I only know one way to make rolls: the long way. And there's NO charity worth waking up at 5:00 a.m. for when you have a baby that you're already getting up with.

Ryan volunteered to wake up early and make them if I'd just leave him the recipe. I looked at him incredulously (love that word). As if. I watched the master (that's you Delsa) in her kitchen over years to try to perfect what truly is the art of making rolls. And, as I said before, I still rarely reach perfection.

Ryan, to his credit, would cook anytime I want him to. But I'd rather cook and have him play with the kids. And when he does cook, it's usually when I have nothing to make (which is why I don't want to cook) and he seems to make the same thing: tuna puff sandwiches. Why? Because I always have tuna on hand since I never use it. But boy does it come in handy when you're in the mood for tuna puff sandwiches (which is pretty much never, just ask my kids).

In the end, he moved the roll-delivery time up to 9:30 in the morning, so I only had to start by 7:00. It's messy, and time-consuming, but fresh cinnamon rolls really are hard to beat. Especially when they're the WORLD'S BEST cinnamon rolls, and you have an awesome husband who cleans the kitchen afterward--as he does most days. Ryan is DEFINITELY a keeper.