The scent of lemon zest...
My sisters and our grandmother are coming today. Nothing unusual about that, but one of my sisters doesn’t come that often because she lives far away and works fulltime. So I’ll have to seize the opportunity and bake something.
I’ve always liked baking and cooking, baking especially, but these last few years I’ve enjoyed it less. Before, I did it for all these reasons: it’s fun, it’s relaxing (most of the time), I love the scent of something newly baked fresh out of the oven, it’s yummy, and it’s fun to invite people over and enjoy them enjoying it, and… I guess I just somehow enjoyed being “the girl who’s good at baking”…
These days, however, it’s less fun because most of the time I’m only baking for mom and myself. Or some guests that don’t eat a lot. There are always a lot of leftovers, and the freezer is mostly stuffed with food already. So, every time I bake, I end up eating most of it myself. (Sometimes I don’t mind, but it really doesn’t make me feel so good.) So, whenever I hear that people are coming over, I jump to the chance! Today I’ll make an almond and lemon cake, I haven’t done that, I think, since… 2002, wow, when I lived in a dorm. (Maybe I made it once later, too, when I lived with my friend in our own apartment.) To make it better (?) I’ll cover it with tosca cream. Because I believe in combining two good things to make it awesome. :D And that’s almonds + almonds, so it should be good! :D
But I can’t start yet, because mom put a salmon in the oven.
Speaking of food and baking, I read in the paper today that there’s a school chef who is really popular at her school (unusual!) because she makes a real effort to cook food the kids like and make things like home baked bread and to serve many kinds of fresh vegetables, and all this without exceeding the limits of her budget. But now she’s being told that she can’t do this anymore. She has to make the same kind of food all the other schools are making, without anything extra, because everybody has to be the same everywhere. Sometimes, the people in charge of things are just plain crazy. I read that the explanation was that the purpose is not to “punish” someone for doing something good, but to “raise the standards of the school food everywhere, and to be able to evaluate the process, everybody has to do the same thing.” *sighs*
Hearing things like this makes me so tired sometimes. It’s a well-known fact that school kids are not always happy with the food (but at least I don’t think they serve a lot of things like hash, liver and black pudding in schools anymore), and there are always debates about costs, quality, nutrition, and how to make it better… But why not just tell everybody to just do their best and follow this woman’s example, if she has found a way to make reasonably cheap and healthy food that the kids like? The idea that everything has to be the same for everybody everywhere is good for some things, but in most cases I think it’s better to let people think for themselves.
…And now the oven is free. I’ll get started then. (And Thursday, I’ll cook for my grandmother. She dislikes cooking but always praises my food so it’s a win-win situation.)
I’ve always liked baking and cooking, baking especially, but these last few years I’ve enjoyed it less. Before, I did it for all these reasons: it’s fun, it’s relaxing (most of the time), I love the scent of something newly baked fresh out of the oven, it’s yummy, and it’s fun to invite people over and enjoy them enjoying it, and… I guess I just somehow enjoyed being “the girl who’s good at baking”…
These days, however, it’s less fun because most of the time I’m only baking for mom and myself. Or some guests that don’t eat a lot. There are always a lot of leftovers, and the freezer is mostly stuffed with food already. So, every time I bake, I end up eating most of it myself. (Sometimes I don’t mind, but it really doesn’t make me feel so good.) So, whenever I hear that people are coming over, I jump to the chance! Today I’ll make an almond and lemon cake, I haven’t done that, I think, since… 2002, wow, when I lived in a dorm. (Maybe I made it once later, too, when I lived with my friend in our own apartment.) To make it better (?) I’ll cover it with tosca cream. Because I believe in combining two good things to make it awesome. :D And that’s almonds + almonds, so it should be good! :D
But I can’t start yet, because mom put a salmon in the oven.
Speaking of food and baking, I read in the paper today that there’s a school chef who is really popular at her school (unusual!) because she makes a real effort to cook food the kids like and make things like home baked bread and to serve many kinds of fresh vegetables, and all this without exceeding the limits of her budget. But now she’s being told that she can’t do this anymore. She has to make the same kind of food all the other schools are making, without anything extra, because everybody has to be the same everywhere. Sometimes, the people in charge of things are just plain crazy. I read that the explanation was that the purpose is not to “punish” someone for doing something good, but to “raise the standards of the school food everywhere, and to be able to evaluate the process, everybody has to do the same thing.” *sighs*
Hearing things like this makes me so tired sometimes. It’s a well-known fact that school kids are not always happy with the food (but at least I don’t think they serve a lot of things like hash, liver and black pudding in schools anymore), and there are always debates about costs, quality, nutrition, and how to make it better… But why not just tell everybody to just do their best and follow this woman’s example, if she has found a way to make reasonably cheap and healthy food that the kids like? The idea that everything has to be the same for everybody everywhere is good for some things, but in most cases I think it’s better to let people think for themselves.
…And now the oven is free. I’ll get started then. (And Thursday, I’ll cook for my grandmother. She dislikes cooking but always praises my food so it’s a win-win situation.)