Why I bake...

This is a more personal post... I got nostalgic today while making a dessert that I would usually eat in one of my hubby's aunts house... "Eclair Chocolate Torte"... and it got me thinking about my wonderful family in Wisconsin (we just recently moved from there)... and how they helped me "start baking"

First of all... I must say... that I had always seen my dad baking... I grew up hearing about flour, eggs, pecans and cinnamon, I knew what it was like to smell warm bread coming out of the oven but honestly I never really "understood it", it was always there... as a part of my life and I never appreciated it, my dad is a baker, a wonderful one, but I guess I always took it for granted, so much that I actually barely ever ate of the bread he made... Then I married and I moved to Wisconsin, where my husband, a wonderful and handsome gringo lived his whole life, also blessed to have people in his life (his mom and aunts) who have always baked from scratch and have always enjoyed doing so! I soon learned how much he "needs" to eat warm cookies! His mom would always make cookies for him, sadly she passed away and I never met her, but because of all that hubby loves coming to a home that smells like something is baking! So I started! in the beginning I didn't really know "how to start" but I looked for some online recipes (or took the recipe from the back of the Nestle chocolate chips bag) and started making "chocolate chip cookies" ... I felt like I had "discovered something" I couldn't believe I could "make cookies"! I always thought it would be harder... and you might laugh but I actually believed cookies took hours to bake! HA! ... Then, my husband's aunts (My aunts) started including me in their "baking sessions", they would bake "Christmas cookies" together and I joined them... embarrassed at first because they are REALLY GOOD AT IT! They seemed so "in control" and I was like a clumsy hen just copying what they were doing... I remember I tried making peanut butter cookies with them... and I didn't add guess what? PEANUT BUTTER! Auntie Janet was nice enough to eat the flat sugary crumbly mess that we could remove from the baking sheets (I doubled the butter too!) we all had a good laugh! ... So my love for baking started growing... I started "baking something" for the family gatherings... although I always felt like I was "bringing water to a well" (translation of a Mexican expression) ... You know? Like I was making a cake for a cake expert! LOL! how intimidating! But everyone would still oooh! and aaah! when eating what I made! I must say I have a wonderful, loving family in Wisconsin... and all those things encouraged me too keep baking! (Hubby's praises over the things I baked were definitely important too!)... Then, going to grandma's house (hubby's grandma) and seeing her spread baked goods and her famous chocolate cake when we would visit were something else that made me love baking, the way my aunts and grandma do everything with such love and femininity... I felt like I was witnessing with my own eyes a scene taken from "Little Women"! I truly thought things like that happened only in books... but I am so thankful I got to see it happen in real life... in my life... God has blessed me so much! grandma Shirley, Aunties Sally, Janet and Amy have been like a gift to me! and it's because of them that I actually finally got to understand why my dad speaks the way he does about flour, milk, butter and eggs! I hope I can keep learning so one days someone enjoys being around me as much as I've enjoyed being around those wonderful ladies!!! I hope I can see them soon!

© Paloma King