During holidays, birthdays
or special occasions
my grandmother
takes out the cast iron
cookie mold
that has been in her family
for generations
I help mix and roll the dough
there is a stove and oven in the kitchen
but for this special cookie
we light a fire outside
bake each cookie with care
one at a time
the cookie mold was heavy and hot
a lot of work to make
just one cookie
As I grew older
I stopped making them
It was too tedious
But one day,
I remembered the cookie
She gave me the recipe
but there were no measurements
no procedure
Just the 5 ingredients
I no longer have my ancestor's cookie press
but I made it anyway
I failed
It was not
delicious , warm or crisp
it was a ball of inedible mush
I gave up making it
I could not figure it out
While I was backpacking in Spain
In a tiny pilgrim souvenir shop
to my great surprise,
I found my grandmother's cookies
I found many variations
of my grandmother's cookies
Pizelle in Italian
Stroopwafel In Holland
waffle butter cookies in France.
What a joy to try each one.
I still have not
accomplished making the cookie
The one my grandmother made
I still have not figured out the
exact measurements
or the procedure
but I was already given
the 5 ingredients I know I need to make them
and I will continue trying.
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