To cook or bake.

The kitchen is never somewhere I wanted to be - at least not to cook or bake.

I'd relish the chance to steal a cookie or a scoop of Nutella from the pantry. I'd willingly do the dishes or set the table, and I enjoyed spending time with my mom as she cooked or gathering around the kitchen table with my family. In fact, those are some of my favorite memories from growing up. Playing card games or listening to my dad tell stories and laugh until he cried were times that my heart delighted in. However, entering the kitchen to do something with food other than eat was not my idea of fun or relaxation.

It's funny how things have changed. In more recent years I've come to find comfort in slipping prepared baking dishes into the preheated oven and adding a sprinkle of this and a dash of that to a new recipe. I most enjoy cooking when there are people to share in the fruit of my labor. I suppose most people would feel the same way. If I'm eating alone, I usually can't care less about what's for lunch or the presentation of the meal, but when it comes to creating yummy gifts or serving a meal to friends or family, I'm slowly beginning to understand why others, my mother in particular, so obviously delight in spending time in the kitchen - to cook or bake.

Recent projects: biscotti to give away for Christmas and pumpkin pie for Christmas Eve