Reality Check

Pictured above is my ill-fated attempt to make healthy peanut butter bars.  Every way it was possible for them to go wrong, they did go wrong:  the graham cracker crumbs weren’t crushed small enough, so they were lumpy; I didn't make enough to fill my 9 x 13 cake pan; the chocolate topping was clumpy; they were too rich.   I‘m pretty sure I dirtied every kitchen device I own trying to save them, but it was not meant to be.  Were they inedible?  Not at all, in fact they were eaten up in two days, but they were not the perfect peanut butter bars I had been dreaming about for weeks.  

I feel that when you read food blogs, you are only given one side of the story, when things turn out perfectly and are made even more perfect with styling the food and editing the pictures.  I realize that not many people would have an interest in looking at blurry pictures of burnt scrambled eggs, but you never see when the soufflé collapses, the roast burns, and when no matter how much blending you do, there are still lumps of tofu in your berry smoothie.  That is real life cooking; when things don’t go as planned.  I feel that most food bloggers have (or at least should have) a passion for food, cooking, and experimenting.  When you don’t know how things may turn out, that’s what makes it an adventure.  But it can also be very frustrating, as I found out with my bars.  A good cook will scrape the burnt bits out of the pan and try again tomorrow.  Someday, I will have a post about healthy peanut butter bars on my blog, but it won’t be today.  For now, all you get is a picture of... I don’t even know what to call them.  Oh wait, I know, they’re called real life.