Rumor has it that we each get 15 minutes of fame in our lives. Well, more or less. The Internet has given that concept new life in several ways, not the least of which was impressed upon me one evening a couple years ago.
I was doing that double-edged sword activity called ego-surfing. In reality, I was searching to see what articles of mine remain out there in E-space, so that I could retrieve them for a profile. I did not expect to find my name and my work mentioned in someone else's blog, especially not someone I don't know.
However, that is what happened.
In 1987, as young mom in Nashville, Tennessee, I entered a contest that was "the search for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie". It was sponsored by Chocolatier Magazine and The Orchards Inn in New England. I heard about it on a local TV show, and since our chocolate chip cookies already had a good reputation, decided to enter. I was one of the lucky finalists. I even still have the terrycloth robe the Inn sent me as a prize. And my recipe was published in a cookbook of the top 50 recipes from the contest.
Cook from the Book is a blog site about the "tests and trials of baking and cooking moments". It features recipes endorsed by the blogger, along with comments on the usefulness of the recipes. Apparently, a couple years before, Cook from the Book featured my recipe for Joyous Chocolate Chips along with a short intro about how it came to be.
I was flabbergasted. Dumbfounded. Gobsmacked even.
I loved creating the recipe and was thrilled to place among the top finalists. I loved my robe. When I won, I even contacted the TV show I'd heard about the contest from, and they invited me on the show to demo my recipe. Then there was the cookbook. I figured I'd milked that 15 minutes for all it was worth. But the recipe, with my name associated with it, lives on. And that's pretty cool.
I love the Internet.