As a writer, I really love to see my hard effort turn into something physical. Obviously by physical, I don’t exactly mean a physical piece of paper with a story on it. But just knowing that I wrote something that I’m proud of usually makes me happy. As long as it’s down on the actual page, whether physically or on the computer, I feel a sense of accomplishment.
However, it’s not just writing where I enjoy seeing my hard effort make something. Another one of my hobbies that I admit I don’t do as much as I’d like is baking. Baking would be a much better example of making an actual, physical, thing as a reward. I am a very picky eater though, so more often than not I won’t even get to try my creations after pulling them from the oven.
Let’s clarify something real quick before we get too deep into my history with baking. I love baking, but not cooking. Those are two separate art forms, one of which I haven’t delved into for good reason. It’s much more rewarding to dig into a sweet treat than something you need to do to survive twice a day.
My mom always baked for my sister, dad, and myself. She would be one of the biggest inspirations for me in terms of why I started baking. As a kid (and granted, I understand how much of a waste of ingredients this was), I would combine random kitchen ingredients and make the real life equivalent of “Grey Goo” from Webkinz. I can’t even remember what the ingredients were, but if I had to guess maybe flour, sugar, and cereal.
I stopped baking for a while after that, probably from the range of middle to high school, although the passion never left. It was just that the time I had severely dwindled with academics and sports, and I would rather play games or watch TV in the little spare time I had. I would say that I started baking a lot more in college, starting junior year.
I had just come back from studying abroad and had an apartment all to myself. This means the kitchen I had to myself, not sharing with anybody else. That was actually a big thing for me, because at home with my parents, the kitchen was always occupied by someone. The only time I could have the room alone was late at night after everybody had gone to sleep.
I started with some staples that I really enjoy like banana bread or cake. It should be noted that I do enjoy cake mixes from boxes like Betty Crocker, but there’s something special starting from scratch. I spent hours in searching different websites that claimed they had “the best” recipe so I tried them all. Now, I have made my own banana bread recipe using a combination of all of them. But I’ll never give away my secret.
Sidebar: I hate those recipe blog websites. I don’t care about when you make this it makes you feel like a warm summer day or that Grandmama used to always make it. Just skip to the ingredient list for God’s sake.
From there I shifted to more complicated recipes, including an upside pineapple rum cake. That’s a lot of words, but the ingredient list wasn’t as complicated. The process is where it got a little tougher. It turned out beautiful, tasted beautiful, and I got to share it with friends.
I started to use my baking skills as thank you gifts and signs of appreciation for acts of service done for me. I don’t eat chocolate but I made cookies every so often. But the banana bread continued to be a staple of my baking career.
Nowadays, I don’t have much time to bake and the kitchen at home is extremely tight. I do hope once again to pick up the whisk and apron and start baking something fun when time and space is available. For now, I can just bask in my glorious bakes.
One important website I like to use while finding something to bake is Supercook (link is for desktop view). You can put in the ingredients you currently have and it will give you a list of possible recipes you can work on. I use it often when I’m looking for something outside of the ordinary. This is not a paid promotion, this is my genuine support for the website.
Sorry for the lame upload schedule, work and life has been busy but I wanted to show I’m still alive. My progress on the novel is coming along, but I’m hoping to have a short story coming out soon. Stay tuned. Today’s blog photo is Riley working on the “gayboard”, a longboard we built from a snowboard and longboard parts. It functions surprisingly well.