They say baking is a science. You’d never guess if you were
to ever visit my house on weekends in the 90’s or early 2000s. My mom made
baking look like a joke you’d crack at dinner parties. She was so good at it
that it wasn’t any surprise that I was a fat kid. She is a science teacher to
be fair. On weekends she’d be whipping up cakes like it was going out of
fashion the next day. And like I said, she was bloody good at it.
During the week the super sleuth mother of mine would ask me
“D, what is the fruit you hate to eat?”. “Apple,” I’d say. That weekend we ate
the most amazing apple cakes. But soon I got the hang of it and one week I said
“Strawberries!”. Mom: “But you’ve never had strawberries!” Me: “but, maa, I am
convinced that strawberries can be disgusting.” I got a banana cake that
weekend. My mum, she’s smart like that.
You know how famous cooks or in the movies they say “I
developed a passion for cooking/baking while watching my mother cook and
helping her out” ? Well, I always watched her bake. On my birthday, on sis’s
birthday, on Saturday, on Sunday…pretty much all of my growing up years. I’ve
smelled delicious chocolate cakes, bundt cakes, brownies, biscuits, muffins
come out of that battered oven we owned. I know the steps. Almost by heart. But
I never learned from her. I was just so content watching her and then packing
them away for my Sunday morning picnic with my best friend and her dog as our
caretaker.
So Saturday I attempted baking. Because I was craving home
made cakes suddenly. Maybe it was because BFF went home and kept talking about
how awesome the town we grew up in was, and how she hates coming or maybe
because it’s been a bloody 5 months since I’ve seen the folks (which in my
world is hell of a lot of time) or maybe because I spent 5 days thinking I’m
going to die of viral fever. Needless to say it was a disaster. The kitchen
looked like a war site. Not one to give up I tried again on Sunday. This time I
put the boyfriend to work as well. This is time the kitchen was clean and cake
was good. Nowhere close to Mother’s cakes, not fluffy enough, not the right
texture but it tasted pretty good. Well, now I’ve at least made a little
headway into completing one of my Life List entries. I should be almost there
by end of year. Maybe.
