Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Baking




I usually do not bake. The kitchen is the size of a closet. The oven no longer works. The cats get in the way. The music on NPR/WQXR is never right for baking.
This Sunday I baked-because I had to.
I had read about a poppyseed and lemon rind pancake w/ ricotta cheese and actually bought ricotta cheese and poppy seeds several weeks ago and I now knew the ricotta was going to start to go if I kept it any longer. So I had to make it now. Underwhelming.
A whole bunch of bananas was turning ripe over night, simultaneously. That meant banana bread was the next project. Burned the top in an effort to cook the middle. Hate that burning thing that sometimes happens. Then you have to say "Want some banana bread?You'll just have to cut off the burned part...." . I made sure to feed it to people who had not eaten home made anything in weeks. They loved it. Thanks Mom & Dad!
Next up cookies and cake for a good bye party Tuesday evening. I mixed up batches of things only to realize I had run out of chocolate and vanilla. Hate that running out of key ingredients thing. Back from 2 stores I battled with the new convection oven -cookies seemed to do O.K. but cake iffy. This might not be the oven for cakes. Good bye cakes!
Made mocha whipped cream to cover any sins visible on the cake top surface.
I like baking because it makes everything smell wonderful. I also like that home made anything is probably better for you that store bought stuff. And I do try , more and more, to cook with organic and healthy versions of ingredients (did you know maple sugar -supposidly better that regular sugar-costs an arm and a leg!)
But here's the odd thing: I am never floored by food. It always falls short when I make it.
This could be one of 2 things: maybe it is like my love of the smell of coffee: it almost always smells delicious but that taste of coffee never matches up to the aroma.
Or maybe it is the artist/creator in me-that high standards ,perfection ,expectation thing that never gets me where I want to go. Cookies were good though...