Date Night
Date Night In the Dark
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very healthy relationship relies on patience and trust at some point and Kat and I had ours put to the test with this month’s date night. This month date night, titled “The Helpless Baker,” found us turning up the heat in the kitchen and testing Kat’s patience. While she tried to remain calm, it was my job to put all my faith in her as she guided me. Here’s what happened. Our date nights come from a book that has us scratch off a square similar to a lotto scratcher. We are given a few hints about the date, details like an expected time commitment, possible cost and major restrictions. Once we scratch the box, we find out exactly what we’ll be getting up to. This month our date called for us to bake a pie. The catch was that the least experienced baker would be doing the baking – blindfolded. Guess who the least experienced baker in our relationship is. Another catch is that Kat was only permitted to use three directional sentences during our date (more on that later.)
34 | July 2021
First, because my mom’s birthday was coming up, we decided to bake a cake rather than a pie. I expressed a little concern about ruining my mom’s birthday cake because I was going to try to bake it blind, but Kat assured me everything would be fine. “I can bake this cake blindfolded without help,” Kat assured me. (More on that later.) I’ll also mention that Kat’s parents were visiting from California, so our bumbling blind baking adventure played out a little bit like a baking show with a live studio audience. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were also able to capture some great photos of
the experience. So, with our challenge set, I went to work looking for a suitable blindfold, and Kat went to work gathering the tools of the trade: mixing bowl, measuring cups, oil, eggs and whisk. I got back to the kitchen, surveyed the materials to get a basic layout and donned my blindfold. I stood, with hands outstretched, groping for something as laughter rolled through the house. I wait. They laugh. I wait a little longer, then I hear Kat on the other side of the kitchen showing her dad how to use the camera. I wait some more. Then Kat comes over and hands me a box. I try to rip it open and she giggles and stops me. She’s rather brilliant, and decided I should open the cake mix inside of our mixing bowl to avoid a mess. It worked. Next she hands me a mixing cup. Then she cranks my wrist about 45 degrees in a clockwise direction. Then she does it again.
I learned this month that being able to see is a key factor in one’s ability to pour something. I spilled eggs and oil, but by the time we got to putting batter into the pans, Kat and I had a handle on things.
