I am happy to report that after a lifelong struggle with my relentless sweet tooth (and far too many concessions of defeat), a battle has been won! After years of confliction -- joyously baking and eating (and eating) the fruits of my labor only to curse my lack of will power and ever-growing waistline, I have found salvation in the form of my lovely husband's motley crew of sweet-toothed friends. Bi-weekly, this crew gathers together for an evening of Sci-Fi television shows, take-out, and catching up. Men outnumber women two-to-one most nights, so while there is never a shortage of beer, baked goods are scarcely incorporated into the mix.
That's where I come in.
I have been with my husband for nearly five years, long enough to now consider his friends my friends. And yet, perhaps due to my ambivalence toward anything science fiction-y and general illiteracy within the comic book and video game genres, I still found myself feeling like I had no real place in the group. That is, until I began baking brownies. A year or two ago, in lieu of bringing beer, I baked brownies for Sci-Fi night. In full disclosure, these were your average boxed brownies folks--no baking brilliance here--just slightly undercooked and gooey...and evidently heaven on earth. Imagine my surprise (and utter glee) to be suddenly celebrated as a baking goddess, bringing to this group the one thing that had been missing! How did they live for so long without my brownies?! How can they convince me to make more?! Where had I been all their lives?! And so began my true integration into the crew. I feed the group, and the group allows me to feed my desire to bake (without the necessary evil of eating every. last. morsel.) In fact, my dear friends (and hosts of Sci-Fi night) gave me a baking cookbook for Christmas to, uh, keep the creative juices (or goodies) flowing.
And now, after a year or two of chocolate chip cookies and brownies, it is time to branch out. Of course, I've baked more than the just the aforementioned -- I make pumpkin swirl cheesecake every Thanksgiving; various fruit pies each summer; and many, many cookies throughout the year. However, I do usually stick to a few tried and true recipes. But how does one gain "tried and true?" By TRYING! So I'm going to branch out, try new recipes, and blog about it. Be forewarned, I am not the world's best baker. Far from it. But I love to do it, it makes me happy, and it makes my friends happy. And damn it all, it sure tastes good.
I'll be out of town for the next Sci-Fi, so the next post will have to wait a few weeks (I dare not bake unless I have a crowd on which I can unload it all). And unfortunately, I did not take any photos of all the goodies I baked for them last weekend. So I leave you with the only photographic proof of my baking -- the cake I made for my husband's birthday last year.
Till my next post, happy baking!
I will live through you vicariously!
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