Stuff I Wish I'd Learned Earlier

I liced in Nashville, TN, for most of my life. I have lived in other states and even countries, including Colorado and Germany, but for the most part, I have lived in Nashville, TN.

State capital.
Major publishing center.
Major educational center.
Music City, U.S.A.

Altitude: about 900 feet aove sea level. (This is important. Remember this bit of trivia, OK?)

Now, as I mentioned, I have lived in Colorado. Colorado Springs, to be exact.

Altitude: about 6000 feet above sea level.

When I lived in Colorado Springs, I had to buy a new cookbook - one about baking at high altitude. The air is thinner at high altitude and things cook differently. Water even boils at lower temperatures. I knew all about high altitude cooking in Colorado Springs.

I also knew what that kind of altitude did to me - I slept about 14 hours a day for the first 3-4 months because I just couldn't get enough oxygen out of the air.

Now, I did my research before moving to Boquete. I knew that the altitude is about 3300 feet where our house is, but since I have had no problem with oxygen deprivation, I never thought about the fact that baking and general cooking just might be different here. Homemade sugar cookies certainly have not been a problem (other than keeping the cookie jar stocked!), but pound cakes came out looking more like pancakes. And I never could get vegetables cooked properly without having to do some major fiddling.

Last night was the last straw. I'd made mashed potatoes and green beans on the stove. And both tasted awful! Underdone beans, lumpy potatoes. I was devastated - and upset - and so relieved that I didn't have company over.

So I got on line and did some research. Did you know that 3000 feet seems to be the "breaking point" as far as not needing adjustments to recipes?

For that matter, did you know that water (which boils at 212 degrees F. at sea level) boils at 204 degrees F. in my kitchen?

Neither did I, until last night.

I'm so glad that I had not tried to make my "killer chocolate cake" before learning this! Now I just have to work on making adjustments to ALL my cooking.

And as Bob says, all the flavors are there in the pound cakes, and that is more important to him than looks. And the cookies are fine. Disappearing, but fine.