Long Time Coming

            Some people know from the minute they can put two sentences together exactly what they want to do with their lives. Then there are us others.  Sometimes it take us, oh, I don’t know, thirty some odd years to figure it out. 

I have been baking forever, I think.  Almost every year for the last 35 years, I’ve done literally hundreds of Christmas cookies to give as gifts to friends and family.  It’s now at 35 or so different kinds. Every. Year.  One year I did quick breads. They were easier, but not as pretty, so back to cookies it was. Numerous years I did gingerbread houses. Not just your average, slop on the white icing and make it look snow covered. These houses had shingles. Necco wafer shingles. Sometimes there was a blue sugar lake. Red licorice brick sidewalks and chimneys.  I am not OCD about anything but baking. Perhaps sewing but it’s been awhile since I did that. Back in the 80’s for awhile, working in my dad’s deli, (5:30 AM mornings, oh joy!), I used to bake some treat or other for Thursday morning breakfast in the back room.  My dad every now and then idly wondered why didn’t I sell the damn Christmas cookies. I thought that if it was something I HAD to do, I wouldn’t enjoy it. I made birthday cakes. Every children’s character from the 80’s, I made a damn birthday cake with it. Except the stupid turtles. Was never big on the turtles. I made Greyskull’s castle! I’ve done cow cakes and Cabbage Patch cakes, Precious Moments, Diva, Strawberry Shortcake, and yes, I even did a wedding cake once.  Then there was the Gulf gas truck, the Dallas Cowboys cake, the Michelob mug….my past memories just went into overdrive here.
Oh, how things change. I have been sitting at a desk for 15 years for work. For the past 9, I’ve worked from home.  No, I don’t work in my jammies. No I don’t get to watch TV all day. (Although I do watch Mets day games on my iPad. Because, Mets, duh.) It struck me again, as I was up to my elbows in Irish Soda Bread dough this weekend that I would be perfectly happy to be in my kitchen baking all day. Every day.  7 days a week would be just fine. The more confident I get about my baking, the lower my tolerance level for idiocy and being put on hold, smarmy cellphone ringtones and talking to voice mail.  I am just about done with my baking courses at Escoffier. I have aced every assignment.  I make some really awesome stuff!  Hot Cross Buns!  Souffles!  Truffles, for goodness sake! So….this brings soul searching looking for the answer to “why am I sitting at this desk every day?” Oh, that’s right. I need food. And electric. And heat. It’s. A. Job.  I’m not entirely sure where this baking journey will take me. What I do know is, I’ve finally, at 50-something, figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Take note, it is never too late to find and follow your passion. I have a daughter and a granddaughter who were fortunate enough to know that culinary was what they wanted early on. I had a brother who was an amazing chef, who started from a dishwasher and worked his way up, early on. OK, so it took me a little longer.  The point is…it’s never too late.

“Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream until your dreams come true”

      ~Aerosmith~

Dream On