Day 6 of muffin testing and it's going well. I have a couple of dents in my confidence armor, but I'm a pretty tough cookie (or should I say, muffin!) and it will take more than a couple of 1's and 2's out of 10 to keep me down. Thus far, we have tested White Chocolate Raspberry, Coffee Cake, Orange, Apple and Almond Poppy Seed. Today is Oatmeal. Sorry for the generic names - once the muffins make the final cut, they will have new names and identities!
As time goes on, it becomes clear to me that food really is personal. That's the only reason why the same recipe would receive a "1" (the lowest score) and a "10" (the highest). Food is about love and life and memories. Just like my previous entry about the orange muffin, I had an image etched in my head and a certain taste lingering on my tongue and nothing was going to do except for the real deal. It had to be exactly the same as I remembered. Because I wanted to bite into that muffin and feel what I felt 20 years ago. What did I feel? Comfort, stability and love. Maybe that seems silly, but at the time, I was pregnant with my first child and I craved comfort food. I was only 21 years old and newly married and was scared about what was ahead of me and concerned about doing the right thing for this baby growing inside of me. Eating that muffin every morning made me feel like I was doing the right thing for myself and the baby. With such strong emotional ties to a particular food, it's no wonder that it had to be an exact replica of the original and it's no wonder that we all feel so strongly about what we eat!
As I continue tasting, testing, researching and analyzing feedback, I hope that I continue to find recipes that take my testers back in time to their own happy food moments. After all, food really is all about love!
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