To bake or not to bake....

That is the question. On the one hand baking is comforting. On the other hand it is fattening. It is cheaper to make scones than to buy them; only problem is then you have 12 instead of one, which brings us back to the fattening issue. However, 12 is a much better number for sharing, so ultimately that will bring us back to the fact that as long as I have strength in my bones and there are people in the world to feed, I will bake. I love it.



I may be the messiest baker (and cook for that matter) that the world has ever known. I lack any sort of efficiency in my operation. I like to throw things around helter skelter, which may account for the messiness of the kitchen when I am done. It is also why I can't make more than 1 thing at a time without disastrous results. But also it makes it fun. Have you ever heard of a fun and fastidious baker? I don't think so.



Today I am taking culinary advice from my husband who claims that you can substitute butternut squash in any recipe that calls for pumpkin and it will probably turn out better. Don't think I am going out on a limb taking my baking tips from my man. He is the resident chocolate chip cookie and apple pie maker in our house - because his are better than mine! (and he never fails to remind me that he won the blue ribbon in the Union county fair for his lemon meringue pie as a mere 12 year old. Apparently he beat out all the grandmas. What a well rounded fellow.)



I have muffins currently in the oven and we will test them soon. They smell delicious. The only problem I can foresee is the look I can imagine receiving when I offer someone a "squash muffin". Maybe I will have to think of a sneaky nick name........ like "Raisin Spice Muffins" or "Nutty Fall Muffins".

The other great thing about baking is that 70 years ago the skill of baking would have been assumed of a woman, now it is as though I possess a sacred talent. Because women have been freed from the domestic shackles that bound us to house and home, now I am free to bind myself to house and home with cords of love. When I bake for all who enter our home they don't feel like I am doing my duty (because what is the duty of the modern woman except to achieve self actualization at the expense of all who surround her) rather they feel loved. I get to have the choice. It makes me feel ever so blessed to be a woman today.

As I was saying, because so many mothers were out in the world pursuing their career goals the craft of baking has been somewhat neglected in the previous decades. Now it is becoming vouge to bake your own bread. It is all the rage sweeping the fashionble magazines, as though it was some new and previously unexplored artform. This isn't all that far from the truth though, because many people who enter my home and see fresh baked goods look at them with wonder in their eyes. "Did you make that....... from scratch!" they say, as though 'scratch' was some sort of magic dust from an alien planet.

I would imagine many people, like myself, never saw a homemade baked good in their homes, save every other decade at Christmastime. My grandmothers' homes, however, were filled with the smells of warm rising bread, freshly baked cookies, and all sorts of culinary delights made from that illusive substance, "scratch".

Maybe it just skips a generation. I wasn't trying to get all philisophical, I was merely wanting to point out that being alive today is a marveouls gift. I can look at a list on a page, measure and mix foods into a bowl, put them in the oven and recieve rave reviews. I can make people feel happy and welcome, foster a sense of community, nourish body and soul. And yet it is so darn easy, a 12 year old could do it.