"Adjust, Adapt, and Overcome" or "Baking Cookies in Europe"

I have a friend who is one of those "in-right, out-right, up-right, downright happy all the time" people. He sees the good in every situation. And I do mean, every situation. Lose a hundred Euros? Someone else probably needed it more. Car breaks down? You needed the exercise. You get the idea (this is why I didn't tell him my ipod broke...he would probably say it's my opportunity to hum more). His favorite phrase is: adjust, adapt, and overcome. He says this phrase alot. If I had a nickle for every time I heard this phrase, I would have enough to buy a new ipod touch (but not here because you can't spend nickles here!). I put this phrase to use last week.
I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies. I have a friend here who has brought me apple cake twice recently, so I wanted to make her some traditional American chocolate chip cookies (I feel more patriotic just by typing that!). There are a few problems with making chocolate chip cookies in Europe. First, my recipe uses Fahrenheit temperature and my oven says Celsius. No problem, I will use the unit converter on my cell phone to figure it out. I will adjust. Problem two: there is no stick butter or shortening here. Okay, there is a butter-like substitute that comes in a 1 lb (or whatever kilo) block and my mom sent me a little stick of Crisco for rolls for my birthday. I will adapt. The butter-like substitute is alot tougher than butter, and my mixer is alot weaker than an American mixer...so it breaks. I mix by hand. I have overcome.

By some miracle of the Lord my cookies turned out delicious and my friend loved them. I'm reminded of a lady who also used cookies to befriend people in a foreign land. I'm hoping you know who I mean. If not, e-mail me and I'll fill you in on her story. The moral of my story is whether your problem is a strange language or a butter-like substitute, it will help to remember the little motto: adjust, adapt, and overcome.
My cookie dough and broken mixer


The finished product. Proof that miracles happen!