I spent the majority of Monday in the kitchen. Baking. Lots of new recipes. I am pretty convinced that what goes on in my kitchen is not atypical of what goes on with other people's baking episodes. The baking marathon of new recipes of course means new ingredients, different ingredients. By the time I got my multiple new recipes on track yesterday I had ground flour, juiced vegetables for dye, toasted nuts, sliced, diced, measured and liquefied too many ingredients to count, all before I even thought about combining anything together in a recipe. My friend "K" was working here on Monday, not in the kitchen, but in the next room which opens to the kitchen. She saw most of the baking events unfold that day, and simply said "geez Jen, talk about a labor of love."
There are very few things that are simple when it comes to my kitchen and baking anymore. It is without a doubt as K said "a labor of love."
I watched a baking challenge show a few months back that pitted several cupcake bakers against one another through various taste and presentation challenges. One baker, however, was a vegan baker who baked "allergen-free." No soy, no wheat, no dairy. Probably no corn, and who knows what else was on the "no" list. She was competing against conventional bakers. The deck was clearly stacked against her. Other bakers simply had to measure flour and other "normal" ingredients and throw them in a mixer, while the specialty baker had to make many adjustments, as well as prep many other ingredients, to get the basic recipes comparable to conventional, and then move on to the other parts of the challenge. I identified with her through the show.
I would love an assistant. That, and a bigger kitchen. My kitchen is the same as any other mere mortals apartment. It is what's called a "galley" kitchen. After we moved here, the kitchen needed help immediately, it was unworkable. Adding to my frustration was the fact that the kitchen I had just left was my dream kitchen. Mr. Happy Vegan designed it according to my specifications. Fancy schmanch, dreamy stuff. Beautiful appliances, double wall ovens, granite and tiles of my dreams. Trying to work in the kitchen here when we arrived was just not feasible, burners didn't work, the dishwasher leaked, and lots of other not so fun stuff. As a mini-makeover began, I dreamed of double ovens, granite countertops, and fancy tile, but ended up with white countertops, one regular oven, and floor tile which began to crack within the 1st month it was placed down. My one extravagance was a warming drawer, which ended up to be among the best money spent in the kitchen, and really wasn't extravagant at all.
So, my little galley kitchen with the cracked tile floor and I were best buds for about 8 hours yesterday working on new recipes. Of them, 2 were "keepers" and will go in to rotation at a new enterprise I'm working on. I consider that not too bad at all, in fact I'm almost willing to call the day wildly successful. This despite the fact that one entire bowl of home ground organic flour had to be composted. When I ground the oat flour, I measured what I needed in one bowl, and poured the rest into an identical stainless bowl right next to it. I sifted and measured the ingredients for that 1 recipe, and didn't bother to move the bowl away with the extra random flour. Of course in a baking induced stupor when I poured the liquids in the dry, I poured them in the wrong bowl...the bowl with the extra random flour, managing to ruin all the extra flour, plus all the liquid ingredients (which happened to contain 1/4 cup fair trade organic vanilla extract... see what I mean? I'm a complete baking fool). Compost walk of shame.
When I woke up yesterday, I was still finding random beet juice stains on my counter, all the attachments for my Champion still air drying on the counter, and flecks of shredded coconut materializing everywhere. Not even mentioning the extra pots, pans, tins and containers that seemed to be overflowing waiting to be put away.
The price to pay for a labor of love.
There are very few things that are simple when it comes to my kitchen and baking anymore. It is without a doubt as K said "a labor of love."
I watched a baking challenge show a few months back that pitted several cupcake bakers against one another through various taste and presentation challenges. One baker, however, was a vegan baker who baked "allergen-free." No soy, no wheat, no dairy. Probably no corn, and who knows what else was on the "no" list. She was competing against conventional bakers. The deck was clearly stacked against her. Other bakers simply had to measure flour and other "normal" ingredients and throw them in a mixer, while the specialty baker had to make many adjustments, as well as prep many other ingredients, to get the basic recipes comparable to conventional, and then move on to the other parts of the challenge. I identified with her through the show.
I would love an assistant. That, and a bigger kitchen. My kitchen is the same as any other mere mortals apartment. It is what's called a "galley" kitchen. After we moved here, the kitchen needed help immediately, it was unworkable. Adding to my frustration was the fact that the kitchen I had just left was my dream kitchen. Mr. Happy Vegan designed it according to my specifications. Fancy schmanch, dreamy stuff. Beautiful appliances, double wall ovens, granite and tiles of my dreams. Trying to work in the kitchen here when we arrived was just not feasible, burners didn't work, the dishwasher leaked, and lots of other not so fun stuff. As a mini-makeover began, I dreamed of double ovens, granite countertops, and fancy tile, but ended up with white countertops, one regular oven, and floor tile which began to crack within the 1st month it was placed down. My one extravagance was a warming drawer, which ended up to be among the best money spent in the kitchen, and really wasn't extravagant at all.
So, my little galley kitchen with the cracked tile floor and I were best buds for about 8 hours yesterday working on new recipes. Of them, 2 were "keepers" and will go in to rotation at a new enterprise I'm working on. I consider that not too bad at all, in fact I'm almost willing to call the day wildly successful. This despite the fact that one entire bowl of home ground organic flour had to be composted. When I ground the oat flour, I measured what I needed in one bowl, and poured the rest into an identical stainless bowl right next to it. I sifted and measured the ingredients for that 1 recipe, and didn't bother to move the bowl away with the extra random flour. Of course in a baking induced stupor when I poured the liquids in the dry, I poured them in the wrong bowl...the bowl with the extra random flour, managing to ruin all the extra flour, plus all the liquid ingredients (which happened to contain 1/4 cup fair trade organic vanilla extract... see what I mean? I'm a complete baking fool). Compost walk of shame.
When I woke up yesterday, I was still finding random beet juice stains on my counter, all the attachments for my Champion still air drying on the counter, and flecks of shredded coconut materializing everywhere. Not even mentioning the extra pots, pans, tins and containers that seemed to be overflowing waiting to be put away.
The price to pay for a labor of love.
The kitchen countertops is often a quite busy place. This is double accurate if the persons who occupy the home is actually into eating and cooking their food.
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