One morning while sitting at the dining room table, I asked my mom what she wanted for dinner. She thought about this for a minute or two and decided that she wanted beef stew. Of course, that would mean I would have to make my #1 specialty – cornbread.

She went off to work and I began the stew. I started it in the morning to let it cook slowly so that all of the vegetables and meat could soak up the seasoning. Around a quarter to five I began the cornbread. I gathered all of my ingredients as usual.

2 cups of cornmeal (yellow, not white)

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of sugar (optional)

And a pinch of salt

I mixed everything together, poured it in a pan and cooked it at 350° F, not 400°. The cornbread was ready just in time.

My mom came and sat down at the table while I served up the food. I noticed, however, that the cornbread hadn't risen as it should have. It tasted a little sweeter than normal too.

A couple of weeks later, we did this again, only this time I added more flour to make it rise. To my surprise it did not rise yet still tasted sweeter. We went through this process two or three more times, when my mom finally said, “Please bring me the flour container,” so I did.

She tasted flour, began to laugh and said, “This is confectioners' sugar you are using, not flour!”