i usually hate baking. i find it tedious and constricting. i love to cook, but that's an entirely different beast than baking. there's a recipe that must be followed and the timing has to be perfect. all things i'm horrible at. but a few years ago when i started working with high school students i invented a game called "cookie points". basically i handed out points haphazardly and when a student reached a specific number of points i would bake them a batch of cookies. this did practically nothing for the girls, but the boys loved it! they would work so hard for the points. and in turn i spent a lot more time baking than i ever had before.
so here's what i'm learning: baking is constricting and there are rules and you can't just throw in some lime juice because you think it might add a bit of a kick. but baking gives you a different kind of freedom. as you knead the dough or whip the egg whites there's this knowledge that following the recipe is going to get you where you want to go. when i cook it's wild and haphazard. not everything i put in a pot works well together (although i must say i get it right 9 out of 10x). but with baking i can follow each step and trust that my pie will deliver. it's a nice thought when my world seems so out of my control.
so go grab a recipe and make a pie or some banana bread and relax in the knowledge that you can't screw it up... well, i mean you can screw it up... uh-oh...
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