Observe and Report: masterbaker

well, not really.
in my family, Caroline is the real master baker, i am a baking enthusiast. not that i am just a hobby baker, when i get the urge, i go a little nuts and get very focused. lucky for me, if i'm in the mood to bake, then james will pick up the slack and make actual food to feed us both.

it's kinda funny that i don't pursue anything to professional. baking is fun, so is photography, but the thought of making a living from something i do for fun makes it less pleasurable. i'm not an ambitious person, my only ambition in life is to enjoy myself, and that sorta means not having a 40+ hour work week, like i used to have. back in those days, i had money to spare, but no time to spend it. i used whatever i earned to pay for all the trips to Europe, my car and my serious clothing and shoe addiction.

now that i don't have that kind of job, i have plenty to time but no money. lol, it's actually better for me because i'm not filling my time and space with acquisitions. taking the huge pay cut meant i also had to make a huge cut in spending, a lesson still in the learning phase. i still impulse buy, but not as often, and not for things that i won't use. and for trips...well...my one credit card is from an airline with instant rewards etc. all other credit cards are hidden somewhere so i can't use them, and my debt is getting smaller by the month.

but back to the title of this post.

This past week, i've been baking. good news for james and our neighbors, bad news for anyone on a diet. back in my 20s, i used to run a cafe full time, getting up at 3am to bake for the day. cookies, cakes, pies, bread, i tested a lot of things in that kitchen. it got to be where i didn't need measuring cups or spoons, and i could make a mean coffee cake in my sleep. it was often the first thing i made, since it was so easy. all my recipes came from the cooking standard "The Joy of Cooking" which is a great text book for bakers everywhere. the ratios between all the dry ingredients and wet ingredients and how they're different from cookies to cakes to breads is fully explained, and having an understanding of how they mingle frees you up from recipes and lets you get creative about what you make. that's what i loved about those early mornings, something i still dream about to this day. one mixing bowl, a table full of ingredients, and a mind slightly sleep deprived (which is when i am most creative). the people who trained me to bake at Brew Corp and Espresso Roma Corp all used baking mixes, and that is what was expected of me when i ran Espresso Roma in Hillcrest. But if i was going to spend 18 hours a day there, i wanted to do it right.

fast forward 20 years, and i've lost most of what i used to know. but i'm getting back. each cup of flour, each stick of butter brings back some old memory, along with some new ideas. i'm exploring cupcakes and muffins at the moment, but probably next week i'll be making bars and shortbreads. in between, i've been making house bread, today's selection will be an oatmeal sandwich style bread. i don't know why i've been so into the baking, but my house smells really good, and the neighbors are pretty happy.

here's a few photos of what's come out of my kitchen so far: