The Lost Art

       I still remember that day my Oma smiled at me, winked and said, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." We had just finished making lunch for my Opa and my Dad. It was our Wednesday tradition. I was homeschooled eighth grade and this allowed me the chance to take 'cooking lessons' from my Oma.

     I am not sure if she really understood what she was getting into when she agreed to take me on as her student. She soon found out when we tried to make homemade bread. In my German heritage, the test of a good woman is her bread. My dad's cousin once told me that I had to learn to slice bread straight and thin before I was ready for marriage.

   Anywho, the bread making experiment turned into a flour explosion and I think my Oma is still finding flour in the nooks and crannies of her kitchen to this day. Oh Heavens, it was messy. But the smell of that bread and the memory of laughing together with my Oma as we surveyed the catastrophe we had created were totally worth it (then again, it wasn't my kitchen that was dusted with flour).

    Bread wasn't our only project. We made dompf noodles, pickles, chili, stew, sweet rice, cooked cheese and so much more. And the best part of the meal was the process. It was learning how to turn a few simple ingredients into a hearty meal. It was the fun of cooking with my Oma, of sitting down to eat with my family and seeing their satisfaction. I still find a huge amount of joy in putting food on the table.

     Today was my boss's birthday. I agreed to bring a cake and when Hank and I went to the store last night, I caved. I love baking so much, but it was late and I couldn't imagine being up for hours slaving over a homemade creation.

 So I bought a box mix.

And I made tres leches cake from a box and it turned out Ok.

Apparently this is the age of buying instead of making. I get that. It is hard to find time to bake and besides, the bakery makes it better, or the grocery store sells it just as fresh, right? right???

My attempt at German cheese dumplings. I used the dumpling technique my colleages taught me in China :)

    Well, you would have thought I labored hours over this cake by the way my coworkers praised my cake. They all seemed genuinly surprised that I would make a cake. I admitted it was from a box but this didn't lessen their amazement.

    On one hand, it is rather nice to be praised. On the other, I am sad for what we are losing. If we always let someone else grow our food, bake our bread, hunt our meat- won't we become pretty needy people. We will need other people to do all these things for us and we ourselves will miss out on the beauty of the process.  On the pride that comes from getting  your hands dirty and surviving flour mushroom clouds. On failing at certain recipes to learn what works. On the the smell, oh the smell! of baking bread.

To me, it is worth every second I could spend doing something more "productive."

Procrastination and Caramel Cake

Ever since I can remember, I've had a very short attention span. We're talking a 5 year old's, can't focus for 5 minutes attention span. This rule applies to tasks such as math, cleaning, organizing, and/or any item that needs to be done.

     Warning #1: this short attention span is further shortened with large amounts of caffeine and a house full of things I don't want to do.
     Warning #2: I have had a cup of coffee and chai tea today and just spent approximately five minutes organizing the office, followed by two minutes working on addressing notes and now I am here.

       I am not alone in this. In fact, I quickly discovered in college that there were any number of people who would join me in my "needed" trips to get coffee in the middle of afternoon study sessions, or who would take a LONG study break and talk to me in the library. It is a small wonder that I graduated with my ratio of breaks to study sessions being approximately 4 to 1.

     Unfortunately this habit permeates nearly all areas of life. Often I walk around my house only to find at least one unfinished project in each room. I have oodles of unfinished art projects including painting, knitting, crocheting, sewing and even needlepoint! In my art box there are at least 3 sketched on but never painted canvases. Who knows what masterpieces I could create if I would but focus!?


      There is one area of my life where this rule does not apply. I have rarely ever started to cook something and not finished it. Perhaps this is because I learned to cook from my Oma and my mom -two extremely motivated and focused women- or perhaps because the prize of eating is always worth it. I do love to eat...

      I am one of those who can browse a cookbook for hours. Literally. I LOVE planning meals. I love baking. I even have the patience to let bread rise for 3 1/2 hours simply because the smell is almost better that the taste once it is baking in the oven.

      Last year, when I was cold or bored (or both) in Northeast China where I taught English, I would bake. It was my go-to mechanism and always made me feel a bit more at home.

      I even bought a pumpkin and figured out how to make pumpkin puree so I could make fall goodies like pumpkin challah, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

     It was pure delight smelling that goodness coming from my little bitty oven.

      One time Hank and I, on one of our skype dates, decided to cook something and eat it at the same time on skype. It wasn't quite what we pictured because the gas to my stove ran out right as I was going to make banana pancakes. I made them in the oven instead and we ate pancakes and stared googly eyed at each other over the internet.

     I learned last year that cooking was a good way to get to know students. I had students over a few times and they would 'teach' me how to make their local food. Most often I ended up getting them what they needed while they made it, but it was so fun afterwards getting to eat and talk and laugh together.

    Some of my Chinese comrades came over one time and we made food from our homes- comfort food. One of them made Coca Cola chicken wings (delicious!) and another made spicy sichuan food while I attempted to make tacos. It was fun even if the tacos weren't quite authentic.

        I have always believed that there is a certain power to food. It brings people together, makes em' feel like one big happy family. At our family reunion you will always find my sisters and I huddled around the snack table or standing around in the kitchen blocking traffic and talking with people. Its just a good place to be.

    Today Hank suggested that I take a break from job applications and do an art project. I love art but right now I am in a baking mood.
Watch out!

      I started reading the help a few days ago and now I MUST have a piece of caramel cake. I've never tried one but it sounds incredible so I just found this recipe on this blog and Hank has already been texted to ask if he will go to the store for me... what a sweetie.

Do two people really need a massive and decadently delish caramel cake?
   That's besides the point. Come on dahling! Live a little!!

So here goes- gonna see how it turns out. I'll let you know!