Actually, you may want to change this to `node.default` not `node.set`.

http://docs.opscode.com/essentials_cookbook_attribute_files.html#file-methods
`normal (or set, where set is an alias for normal)`

And from a little bit further up on the docs
`Normal attributes are never reset.`
http://docs.opscode.com/essentials_cookbook_attribute_files.html#attribute-persistence