Why I love baking
There is just something about the smell of freshly baking cookies and cake that seems to call to me every time. It is almost an obsessive need to flow with that scent that lingers in the air and just have it all around you all the time. Baking was something I had grown up around and pretty much forgotten about since awhile. I have had my mum experiment with so many different cakes and dishes which made me want to try some for myself.
Like every kid, when I first started out, the kitchen would have traces of everything I used and many a blackened pot had to be scrubbed clean later on. Mum would in fact zip in and out when I was in a fix and do her little magic additions to make what ever disaster I was attempting turn out perfectly. Another thing she would do was yell, at the traces of flour trailing the kitchen, the piling plates and spoons and what not. It would annoy me awfully but now I realize its something that has helped me make sure that the kitchen stays spick and span through all my cooking adventures. I hate having dishes piling up when I am cooking or food trailing all over. Once people start eating, its another thing altogether but before that, its got to look perfect.
Well my tryst with baking got renewed recently when after quitting my job, I found myself with a lot of time to write, crochet, cook and what not until my prince charming got back from work. I am a very talkative person so channeling all my energies into cooking and doing one dish a day was a great way for me to kill time. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I actually can cook and enjoy it too. I just needed a little patience, like my mum always said.
The one thing that I loved above all was baking. My first renewed attempt at baking involved making some sugar crackle cookies. These were so lovely, especially that smell when they are baking, just like cookie man. I used to wonder if they sprayed something around the whole store so people would follow the scent or something, now I know it's the smell of cookies getting baked fresh! I have always made cakes before and stuck to the regular chocolate cake so after a cookie expedition my next attempt was cheesecakes. That was a good attempt too! Imagine my surprise when I learnt that cakes , especially cheesecakes are awfully easy and simply to make.
One of the challenges I faced while baking is not being able to find some of the ingredients in all the super markets nearby. Most of the time, to find any particular kind of whipping cream or some philadelphia cream cheese, I would have to head out to a large super market like Spar. The next challenge lay in buying baking tools. I have this huge thing that when I do something, I gotta have everything in place. So I have been indulging in buying quite a few baking trays. My next acquisition is a good blender/ beater, which I hope to be able to find today. What can I say? I don't plan to open a bakery, but I definitely want to keep baking, if only to loose myself in the heady scent of freshly made cakes and cookies.
