Suzi Homemaker

I've probably bragged whole bunches about my mother's awesome bakery. She used to bake for fun when I was kid. Man, oh, man! I looked forward to every holiday, even the silly made up ones like Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday. For the entire month of December, she would make cookies and Italian pastries and fried dough thingies and pie.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. And my mother decided to become a professional baker when I turned 14. Gone where the halcyon days of having nice little treats in my lunch and the house to myself after school. Now, my mother baked professionally and couldn't waste her inventory on the family. And did I mention she was doing all of this out of the basement of our house? Not so good times.

And eventually, I had the unfortunate task of working for my mother. Ugh! She's such a type A personality. I had to do everything her way, which according to her, is THE only way. And God forbid you didn't put enough coloured jimmies on the cherry cookies. Mom is a bit of a stickler for presentation.

So, naturally, all of this stuff became contributing factors on why I do not bake....ever. Except for my super easy idiot proof cherry apple crisp (courtesy of the Moosewood cookbook) and even that was far from perfect.

Upon living in my own home, I discovered I finally had the freedom to return to the kitchen to bake. And I could have fun and make a mess and learn from my mistakes all on my own terms.

When I was packing up my shit from my parents' house to my new house, my mother made up a special box of baking necessities for me. And boy has that shit come in handy! I participated in 2 cookie swaps this past December. Oatmeal pecan came out great. Chocolate and dried berries were too mushy and totally needed a salt factor to cut the sweetness. The chocolate pecan bars were tasty but did not want to form bars and turned out to be chocolate pecan hunks. Still, I got rave reviews. And most recently, I made a chocolate fudge pie. To be honest, I used a pre-made crust. But the filling was all me, baby! And it was AWESOME.

This weekend, Sexybeast is off on an ice fishing trip. And upon his glorious return, he will be greeted w/ raspberry mango crisp.

Peace, love and cookie crumbs....