Cooking and baking are not my forte. I didn’t learn how to cook as I was growing up. I used to watch my grandmother cook, but somehow, as a child, it never dawned on me that cooking was a life skill I needed to grasp. None of the adults in my life ever said “Hey, this is something you need to learn.” As a matter of fact, by the time I reached my teens my mother had announced that she wasn’t going to cook anymore… and she didn’t. Fortunately, my father stepped up to the plate and kept us from starving, LOL.

I did most of the cooking the first few years of our marriage and then Kenn took over. Between the two of us, we kept our family fed. However, I am a much better cook now than I was prior to retirement and it’s mostly due to Hello Fresh. We subscribed to Hello Fresh shortly after I retired. We get two meal kits each week which mean that there are two fewer meals to plan. (Yay!) The kits have also given me a chance to try things I otherwise wouldn’t have. I have learned that I enjoy the prep process or mise en place if you will; I find the chopping, slicing, and dicing relaxing. I have learned that roasted vegetables are easy to make and delicious to eat. I can also now successfully cook rice. Kenn has learned that sweet potatoes aren’t so bad. I can even “wing it” now. Need to cook pork chops without a meal kit or a recipe? No problem. I can whip up a glaze or just use one of the many gourmet (flavored) salts Kenn has gifted me.

Baking is another story. I’ve never done a lot of baking. Baking is far more scientific than regular cooking; you can’t just substitute an ingredient on the fly without possibly ruining the whole recipe. Kenn finds it amusing that even though I don’t bake, baking shows are favorite shows to watch. However, there was one item I baked regularly: a poppy seed cake. I got the recipe from a co-worker probably twenty-five years ago and it became a staple in our household. However, starting several years ago, every attempt to bake a poppy seed cake failed spectacularly. I bought a thermometer to make sure the oven was cooking at the correct temperature; it was. I bought a couple of different pans; neither helped. I wondered if the ingredients of the cake mix had changed somehow so I tried a few other brands; no change. I finally just gave up. Until yesterday.

The display on our range failed which meant we had no way to control the oven so we had a technician come out to give us a quote on repairing the faulty item; between the $109 diagnostic fee and parts and labor, it was going to cost over $700 to repair our existing range of unknown age. We decided to purchase a new range and to splurge on one with an air fry feature. An unexpected bonus is that the new range can function as a convection oven. I decided I’d try my beloved poppy seed cake recipe one more time using the convection oven. It worked! True, the cake isn’t as brown as what I’m used to, but it tastes amazing, so I’m calling it a win. I am so happy to be able to add this cake back to my repertoire for family gatherings, potlucks, and so forth.

How do you feel about cooking and baking? How did you learn?