This past week was spring break, and given that my mind and spirit were free from the shackles of Times New Roman-formatted strings of text found in my textbooks and lecture materials, I decided to turn to baking. A mixing bowl and measuring cup are about as unfamiliar to me as rhinos to the North Pole. But given M's contagious enthusiasm for baking and her support for budding bakers like me, I decided to give it a try! It turns out that the term 'try' is probably an understatement. It was 5 days of baking. Every morning, at 8 AM just when the sister left for school, I blasted my radio (shout out to ALICE 97.3 FM) and began the dance of the plastic bowl and wooden spoons.
Some lessons I learned that experienced bakers would label obvious but are what I consider 'why-didn't-anyone-tell-me?!' important.
1) She who wields a mixer doth wield great power (electrically and theoretically). She who is unlucky enough to not have one... will haveth great, sore, hulking hands. Two days into the baking festival, I was plagued by cramped hands and wrists. It didn't help that I did not have the wisdom contained in the next statement that you are about to read:
2) Always mix the dry ingredients first. If you don't, you'll find yourself in a situation that I found myself in. Which was, as I read 'fold in the dry ingredients,' I foolishly decided to fold them in...one by one. Let me do my best to insert a daydream reflection-esque camera shot into this blog.
Cut to an empty kitchen. You see the silhouette of K against the kitchen counter.
She stands, throwing her arms around.
In her hands are two wooden spatulas. She mixes the cake dough as well as she can; her motions resemble those of a Coldstone Creamery employee working in those Butterfinger and Oreo pieces for some greedy little kid.
The work is hard, but she imagines, this must be worth it! The cake--it is all for the cake. It must be completed.
She folds in the dry ingredients. She reads them off the recipe, one at a time, and adds them into her buttery melty goop.
Adding the flour is difficult, and with each additional cup, the work becomes harder.
Finally though, she completes mixing in all the flour.
Then she reads the next line of the recipe, and the truth is debilitating.
"1 tsp of baking soda."
She stops, her hands drop to her sides.
She feels like she has just been condemned--her work akin to that of Sisyphus.
It feels like some baking purgatory, some cruel joke.
But the cake, what about the cake?? And with that, she returns her reluctant hands to the spatulas, ready for more.
End scene.
Okay, okay, I exaggerate. But can you imagine my horror upon realizing I had mere tablespoons to *evenly* mix into my huge, honking pile of dough?!
3) Always keep a lot of sugar and butter in the pantry. Especially if you decide to hold a five day baking carnival. This may not apply to everyone, but hey, the real message is make sure you have your ingredients before starting.
4) It helps to have someone wash your dishes. Go trick someone into helping you. ;)
Okay, I'm not sure why I numbered for only four things. Clearly, I didn't learn much. But I had a lot of fun!
