Something that isn't Baking

It's cooking instead :-) Of course, if you'd rather have baking go here.

It's thematic photographic time over at Carmi's again with the subject this week being "I'm Hungry". I just can't help myself!

So here's the thing; I am hungry... always! It didn't used to be this way. When my wife and I began dating, she lovingly called me Skeletor. Anyway, fast-forward 3 years (almost exactly!) and my three favorite friends in the kitchen are butter, bacon, and 35% cream. I've always loved cooking, and since I started the culinary program at the college my technique has grown (along with my waistline) to match my passion.

But I digress. It is thematic photographic, and so I have to choose a picture of food or something relating to "I'm Hungry" to post. I know just the thing...!


The above photo was taken nearly three years ago either shortly before or shortly after my wife and I decided to marry. The meal about to be put down on the table was spaghetti with a rustic home-style red sauce made with an entire roast of beef, Vienna crusty bread, field greens with balsamic vinaigrette, and of course a bottle of Chianti.

Now I really am hungry.

Excuse me.

(side note: the meal described above was cooked entirely by my wife. Even though I talk a big game about how I cook, and seldom let her in the kitchen these days, she sure knows what the hell she's doing too!)

Just a quickie...

I received two rolls of film for Christmas... both black & white, one 125 ISO and one 400 ISO. If it's not minus one million tomorrow, I intend to shoot all or some of that film in a winter walkabout.

There. Now I'm committed to do something that isn't baking. :-)

Here I go again...

I tried not to do it... I tried REALLY hard, but there was no escaping it. It drew me in and held me in vice like grips, the way it mostly always does. I fought the urges valiantly, but triumphant I was not. Defeated now, with my head slung low, I bring you the following message:

I started a new blog.

It is here --> Anyone Can Bake!

(P.S. blogging about photography, parenting, Nintendo, bagpipes, and anything else not baking related will continue on this site... hopefully with more frequency than what's been happening of late)

The Jagged Path

I'm often quite mystified by life's intricacies. If you were to ask "Kindergarten Canadian Mark" what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer would be simple: A baker, and possibly also a dentist (so I could double profit from my customers once I rotted out their teeth) Baking has been my passion since forever ago, and now finally it's what I get to do for a living.

I can't help but reflect on the insane amount of side-stepping it took to get me where I am now... A detour here while I tried my hand at the retail game, and a side-rail there when I married and had children, and then many, many other stops, pauses, and in-flight movies in between of course.

After so many years I've come to realize that the bottom line is this: Even though the journey hasn't been a straight course, and was filled with pitfalls, trials, and tribulations at every turn, I'm grateful for every step of it. It's the path that brought me here, with the perfect wife, two beautiful children, and a firm foothold on the career path of MY choice.

/gush

A guy walks into a bar....

Okay, so it was actually a bar & grill (also a hotel, banquet hall, and restaurant too).

Anyway, I walk in, resume in hand, and ask the man at the greeting station if I can speak with the kitchen manager. The man asks me why and I reply that I'm looking for employment as a baker or cook. He crooks one eyebrow when I mention "baker" and sends a runner to get the manager.



The greeter casually asks me about my baking experience, and when he discovers I have experience with yeast breads he smiles, shakes my hand, and says "You're hired."

A moment later the kitchen manager is standing behind me. I'm introduced and asked to sit down for a quick interview, to which I of course comply. As he escorts me away from the greeter's station, he quite bluntly tolls me that the greeter I had just been talking with is in fact the owner of the entire hotel.

Nothing is finalized until after a formal orientation on Monday, but from my understanding the hotel is opening their own bake kitchen for breads, cakes, and pastries and they want me to run it! There were all kinds of things said during the interview that sent happy chills up my spine, like "creative license", "new signature peices", and "brand new equipment".

This is something I've wanted to do since kindergarten! When I quit selling diamonds two months ago, and at the same time decided I no longer wanted to be an electrical engineering student, I had pretty much convinced myself that the road to becoming a professional baker would be a long and arduous one.

I'm so very, very glad I was wrong.