First attempt at baking

This morning I spent a little time at school getting my classroom prepared and making some copies, but it wasn't too exciting so there isn't much to write about as far as that goes. I came home and ate some lunch, did some yoga (which is basically hot yoga because of the climate here but you don't have to pay for the hot room), and then I had a bit of an adventure baking. So yesterday I had a craving for some chocolate and I have been talking to my parents a lot about sending me some baking items. The thing I am really excited about are banana oatmeal cookies because the bananas here are the best bananas I have ever had in my life and I can imagine that they will make the best banana oatmeal cookies ever. I wanted to make them soon, but the recipe calls for ripe bananas, and we just bought a ton of bananas yesterday, but they aren't even ripe enough to eat yet, so I decided I would settle for any kind of cookie.  I'll definitely make the banana ones soon, but I needed something sweet today. I could go buy something at Ace, but I really wanted to bake. Once I got this idea in my head, I wasn't going to stop until I satisfied my craving. I have a few recipes that my parents sent, and I love my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies, so I decided that would be the best choice. I wrote down the ingredients I needed and headed to Ace. I don't think I've described Ace in here yet, but there are two stores  across the street from one another. Ace Hardware is a typical Ace Hardware in the US, but there is also an Ace grocery across the street. It is a toned down, smaller version of a grocery store in the states. There are more asian food items since we are so close to Asia, and the fresh food only comes every few weeks. They have most of the basics you need, but you can't always count on them to have everything you need. Knowing this, I headed over there praying they would have all the necessary cookie dough items. First problem: no vanilla extract. There is almond extract, lemon extract, and some other kind that I can't remember, but no vanilla. Well, that is until I looked down on the bottom shelf to find a gallon container of it. Okay, I decide, I'll just use honey. The vanilla is really just for flavor anyway. So they'll taste a little different, I knew that was going to happen anyway because I'm in Kosrae. So I choose not to worry about it too much and move on. Brown sugar, white sugar, no problems. Chocolate chips are here (they even have ghiradelli!). Then flour... No flour. I look up and down every aisle five times. No flour anywhere. Well crap, no cookies today I guess. I decide it's worth asking, and since Almitta works at the store, if there is some anywhere, she will get it for me. She tells me there are only giant bags of it, which I definitely don't need. Her next question is how much I need, and then she proceeds to send someone back to her house to fill up a bag of flour for me to take home for my cookies. Almitta is a wonderful woman. My cookies are saved, I think to myself. I head home, excited to finally eat some of these cookies I have been craving. I get home, look at the recipe again, get everything out, and realize I need baking soda. My mom sent me baking soda in my package, so I go look in the box and realize I left the baking soda in my classroom because I could use it for experiments with my chemistry class. It's late enough at this point that I really don't want to bike all the way back to school just to get the baking soda, so I scour the internet for recipes that don't use baking powder or baking soda. It's pretty difficult, as you can imagine if you're at all a baker. It took me a little searching, but I did come across a recipe for some chocolate chip cookies without baking soda or powder, so I get to work. Next issue: no cookie sheet or pan of any kind that will work for cookies. We have an extremely rusted 9x9 square pan that would probably fit four at a time, so that would just take way too long. Aidan and I had quite an interesting time trying to figure out how to cook cookies on just aluminum foil. The challenge was getting the foil all the way in the oven without any rolling off the foil. The solution ended up being putting a piece of foil in the oven, then reaching into the oven and putting a roll of cookie dough on the foil with a spatula one by one until you fill the foil. It was an interesting tactic, but ended up working pretty well, aside from making my face sweaty from staring into the oven for that long. Because of the leavening agent-less recipe and the lack of a proper cookie sheet, the cookies didn't really spread out much, but they are pretty delicious! While I was putting cookies in the oven, Ruth and Falan came over to use my computer and the internet (they live right next door to us), and brought me dinner! It was delicious like it always is, and I was very excited. I sent them home with some cookies to share with the rest of the family. It was nice to spend some time with them again too. As long and drawn out as that story was, I feel like it is a perfect example of life in Kosrae and how you have to go with the flow and not get frustrated. Sometimes the island lacks staple food items, and they don't have everything you need to make what you want, but that's okay. I have a feeling I'm going to become very good at cooking with substitutions and changes, and I'll learn to make it work with what I have. I do think I'm going to wait until I get the cookie sheets in the mail before I go for the cookies again, but for now, I have satisfied my freshly baked cookie craving.