Once Upon A Today...

Once upon a time (on July 4, 2011), there was a girl named Naomi who liked to make pretty things to eat.

(You can imagine a nice picture of Naomi here, looking something like Winnie the Pooh. 'Cause she kind of does look like him. In her own way.)

Now, Naomi was an adventurous girl, and she loved to try making new things. She was always up for a challenge, and enjoyed the task of making desserts that were unusual, and sometimes, pretty tricky. Often, it was hard, and usually-- it made her nervous during the process. But, at the end of it all, the sound of her camera going "Click, click, click," and the photos of the finished project would make her smile, and thus provide the courage necessary to try something new the next time she had an opportunity.

One day, Naomi decided to make a beautiful little croquembouche, just big enough for a tea party with a few friends. She had made a few croquembouche towers before (big ones), but she particularly wanted to try making a new one this time, to give her the practice of working with spun sugar. Traditionally, Naomi knew, croquembouche towers are decorated with thin strands of spun sugar, and not having had too much practice with that in the past, she wanted to try it out again to see how it would turn out.

Hours passed as Naomi mixed, baked, stirred, piped and spun... But finally, it was finished! It was beautiful; just as she had hoped it would be. Excitedly, she propped up her favorite wooden cutting board to make a nice wooden background for the photo, set her masterpiece down in front of it, and picked up her camera to take some pictures.

Naomi lifted the camera with a smile, and prepared her ears to hear the usual "Click, click, click" of the camera.

"Click, click, *plop*."

What? Naomi looked up, confused. "Plop?"

Yep. There it was... That lovely little croquembouche, crushed. The cutting board, apparently, had a mind of its own... And decided, just in time for the third click, to go "Plop" right on top of the croquembouche.

It was crushed.

"Oh," Naomi said. That... is... really... sad. :(

The end.

At least I got two pictures of it, even if they were really dark. :) I'm glad for that. And our tea party, though not as picturesque as I would have liked, will be delicious. That I know for sure.


Note: This is a true story. The close-ups were taken after the top was crushed... there were a few cream puffs that kind of survived, so I took some close-ups of those (and the lighting was better for those photos.) :)

Recipe for a Better Baker

My first memory of helping my mom in the kitchen would have taken place when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I remember watching her prepare different vegetables for a salad she was making, thinking it would be a fun job, and begging if I could help her. She was very hesitant-- in fact, I think she said no at first. But after a little while of trying to convince her that I knew what I was doing (though I'd never done it before), I found my chubby little self standing at the counter with washed hands and a cucumber to cut. She carefully instructed me on how to hold the knife and keep my hands safe from the blade as it went in and out of the cucumber, each time making it a little smaller and a little trickier to hold safely.

Well, that job didn't last long. I don't think I thought her instructions were really so important as she made them out to be, so chop, chop I went. And before I knew it, I'd chopped right into my finger! It was a lesson well learned. And needless to say, I didn't ask her if I could help in the kitchen again for a few years after that. ;)

The next time I ventured into the kitchen asking for jobs would have been when I was around 8 years old. I started out with small jobs, like sprinkling olives on pizza, measuring oatmeal, and cutting out cookies. Before I knew it, I was making French Toast for the family, scrambling eggs, and baking bread, pies and cakes.

Today I am 19 years old, and as is evident by my current occupation, I love cooking and baking more than ever! I have earned something of a reputation among those around me for loving to bake and being pretty good at it (though, I know I still have a long ways to go).

This reputation has brought a lot of questions my way over the years. Questions like "Where did you learn to bake so well?", "How did you get started doing this?", etc.

So, I've decided to post some of those answers on here. Aside from the "How I got started with it all" (as you already know from the beginning of this post), I want to leave the aspiring bakers out there with a few tips on how to get into baking, and of course, baking well. These are not all that I would say, when giving tips on baking, but they're a start.


First off, Don't Wait to be Taught-- Teach Yourself.

Not that you shouldn't take help when it's offered-- really, all that I know of baking is what others have taught me and what I've learned through experience. What I mean is that you should not wait for information to come to you. If you want to learn, go for it! Find the information you need, and jump in with two feet.

One thing that I have always enjoyed doing is reading cook books. I can't say that I can sit there and read one for hours and hours... no, actually, I love to look at the pictures the most. :-D But I have spent a lot of time reading, and as a result, I have learned a LOT of things that I wouldn't have otherwise known. Having facts, tips, and substitutes stored in my mind has helped me with not only my success in baking, but my confidence as well.

Second, Don't be Afraid to Fail.

I've made so many miserable masterpieces, I can't even tell you. But the one thing I know is this-- almost every single time, I learned what NOT to do next time. People often learn best through their mistakes, so don't give up. Look for what you did wrong, figure out how to fix it, roll up your sleeves, and go at it again. My motto is, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"

And third, Practice Makes Perfect.

Practice DOES make perfect. If you work at it, each time aiming for something a little better than before, you'll improve by leaps and bounds. I know this from experience: Practice, practice, practice! Get a feel for the rules of baking and learn where you can bend them.


I recently purchased a few books to teach myself a few more things, and I would highly recommend them any and all who are interested. While I have not done much with them yet, I am learning a lot, and I'm looking forward to trying some new things with them.

The first one is "Baking," by James Peterson. (Pictured below.) AWESOME book!




The second is "The Essential Baking Cookbook," by Whitecap Books.

And then, last but CERTAINLY not least would be "Chocolate and Confections," by Peter P. Greweling.




These books are all available through Amazon, or you could just do what I did for some of 'em and head on over to Chapters here in Windsor. I happen to know that at least one of them is on an especially good sale. :D I'll try to get some book reviews up once I have finished going through these books a little more thoroughly.

Hopefully by August, I'll be getting some of my very own pictures up on this blog with recipes and tutorials for you all to enjoy. Perhaps I'll try some things from one of these books? We'll see! :)

Thanks for reading!

--Naomi

"Punkins," Pumpkins, and Baking

I remember the days when I was small enough to receive the greeting "Hi, Punkin!" from my dad. Ah, fond memories. :) Actually, we (my siblings and I) have all been called "Punkin" at some point in our lives, I'm sure, and now, since some of us are older... we've taken to calling a great number of small, rosy cheeked young'uns by that term of endearment as well.

So, here I am, posting pictures of the two smallest punkins in the house. This post is basically just a picture post, with captions thrown in here and there. This is what it looks like when I bake cookies with my little siblings! (Most of the time-- sometimes it involves a lot more rolling and cutting than this.) These particular younger siblings are the two youngest girls in the family, Anna and Tabithah. Anna being the taller blond one, and Tabithah being the smaller blond one. Their aprons were a little too big for them, but we made do. :)

Enjoy the pictures! (Poor quality, though they may be.)


Here we go. Measuring...




Mixing...



Mixed!





(I love the look of concentration on her face here.) :)




Watching the cookies bake...



Done! Tabithah was taste testing and posing for the picture AT THE SAME TIME! She's so multi talented.



The finished product!



And now for the afore mentioned pumpkin. :) I've never carved a pumpkin before-- this was my first try. What say you to that? :)

A Little Idea

Hello world!

I think I'd like to begin this blog by asking you a pretty simple question: What do YOU think of food?

I'll bet that most people think pretty well of it. It's wonderful stuff. Not only is it the fuel of life for our bodies, food is a way that people connect with one another. I once read a quote that said, "Laughter is brightest where food is best"-- and I believe it! There are billions of people in this world, all with different interests, tastes, personalities and pleasures... but the one thing that we all have in common, no matter what our differences may be, is food.

This blog is about just that. It's also about people and the pleasure that they get from that delicious wonderfulness. I have decided to keep this blog for a number of reasons, one of which is for my own education and enjoyment (I'll share more on this topic in my next post). I intend to use this blog to share my discoveries, as I go about learning more about food from different cultures and lands. I also intend to share some of those moments in my home where the laughter is bright because the food is best-- like at Christmas time, when each one of the 12 kids in my family gets to decorate his or her very own gingerbread house.

Also, I very much hope that I will be able to keep this blog updated regularly with pictures, pictures, and more pictures-- because I am a firm believer in the power of pictures. They are awesome. Some day, I aim to buy a really amazing camera with which to take those amazing pictures, but for now, my cheap digital shots and pictures borrowed photos from my amazing photographer sister's website will have to suffice. Oh, and Google's image search. Some of those pictures, too. :)

So, this is my little idea. To write about little bits and pieces of life that have to do with food. :) Is this a good thing, do you think?

Here's a random picture from the afore mentioned incredible photographer for you-- I just couldn't bear to put up my first post without any pictures. So be grateful for this one. It's way more amazing than this blog will probably ever be. ;)

Goodbye for now!

--Naomi