Are THESE Cinnamon Rolls?

Chris and I have been in quite the baking and cooking mode the last few weeks.  When you don't have the convenience of running out and getting Pizza Inn or Pasados (two of our most missed restaurants) then you learn how to cook.  For you guys who know me well, you know that I haven't been known for my culinary skills.  BUT...I have tried to turn over a new leaf here.  Why not use another country and a new environment as a "test tube" of my ability to cook from scratch?!

This past weekend Chris and I were craving some southern favorites...peach cobbler and cinnamon rolls.  We found some easy recipes online, so we decided to use them.  Chris made our peach cobbler, but I noticed that it tasted a little funny.  Chris was SO proud of it that I ate it without saying a word.  I thought, maybe we need some more peaches in it.  Then Sunday we decided to make cinnamon rolls.  As he was putting the cinnamon on the dough I asked him what he was using.  His response: "Cinnamon!"  I noticed that the rolls had the same weird smell as the night before, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  So we baked the rolls, and they came out looking amazing (except for this weird smell).  I took a bite and was completely disappointed.  I said: 'They taste like taco meat!!" Chris responded: "I think your taste buds are messed up."  I was already feeling a little weepy, so the combo of the cinnamon rolls tasting horrible and my not understanding why EVERYTHING tasted like taco meat (the peach cobbler included) sent me over the edge.  I cried and cried and cried...over cinnamon rolls.  I was SO disappointed!!!

Last night we were making our shopping list for the week, and I decided I was going to buy some new flour. I was convinced the flour was the culprit for making everything taste like taco meat. So I smelled the flour, and it smelt fine. So I decided to smell the cinnamon to see if something was wrong with it. Well...one sniff told me that whatever we had been using to spice up our peach cobbler and cinnamon rolls was in fact NOT cinnamon.  I told Chris, "This isn't cinnamon!!!" He assured me it was. I said, "Cinnamon doesn't smell like this! This smells like taco meat!" The writing was in Portuguese, so after a little investigative skills, we determined that what we had used to add some spice to the cobbler and make our cinnamon rolls was in fact CUMIN and NOT cinnamon!!!  So...yesterday, instead of making cinnamon and sugar rolls, we had made cumin and sugar rolls!!  :) :)

I don't think we have laughed SO hard in a long time.  I felt a little redeemed that maybe I could in fact make cinnamon rolls that tasted good, and Chris is going to try the cobbler again.  Moral of the story...if you live in a foreign country, make sure you smell your spices before you use them. You just might make cumin rolls instead of cinnamon rolls! :) :)