Yesterday, when four 10-year-olds turned up in my kitchen hungry for an afterschool snack, I offered them Saltines and Nutella from the IGA. A lame improvisation, from someone with an empty cookie jar? Hardly. When I was a child, my parents sent me to a sleepaway camp where I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with the camp director's wife, hoping to score some leftover chocolate birthday cake frosting that she was always making, and which she suggested I eat off of the Saltines she kept in a giant glass jar on the counter. That seemed like a weird combination to my 10-year-old self, but the first time I tasted it I was shocked at how much better the sweet frosting tasted in combination with the salty crackers. That taste memory alone may have inspired my career in baking. So it was fun to watch my daughter and her friends as they experienced the same surprised pleasure. Who knows? One of them might grow up and open that Main Street cupcake shop we so desperately need.
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