My Passion for Cooking and Baking

Lauren Pate

Eng 207

Literacy Narrative

2/16/09

When growing up, I often took interest in things my mom would do around the house. I would act like a little mother so that I could be just like her. I did things such as load the dishwasher, pretend to balance a check book, and pretend to play restaurant in my kitchen. I even had my own pretend cooking show called “Kristine’s Kitchen” because Kristine is my middle name. One year, my mom asked me to help her make Christmas cookies for some of our old neighbors. The cookies got me started on the whole idea of cooking and baking, and I soon started these activities with my mom on a regular basis. It became something I grew to have a huge passion for. Not only did my mom help me understand the process of cooking and baking such as reading and understanding the directions that are involved, but she also taught me something that I would use for the rest of my life.

The day my mom asked me to help her make Christmas cookies, I really wasn’t a big help. I didn’t really know what to do so I sat and watched her make the cookie dough. I watched as she would read the directions and began to mix all of the ingredients such as the butter, flour, and sugar; I was very interested as she continued to add things together. She eventually asked me to start adding things with her. She would pick up the note card that had the instructions and ingredients on it and then tell me to add certain things. She let me put the eggs in, which she said was the most important part because I had to be extra careful not to get the shell into the dough. I soon realized that I was actually making homemade cookies with the help of my mother. It made me happy and very proud of myself. We then had to read how to make the homemade icing for the cookies. My mom did a little more than I did for the icing because it was a delicate process; however, I still was able to help.

Once the cookie dough was made up, we had to read the directions and found out that we got to roll out the dough. We used different cookie cutters to make the cookies. This was my favorite part. I loved getting to choose the different Christmas characters and shapes to press down into the dough and lay on the cookie sheet. While I had a hard time being delicate with the dough, because it would rip every other time, I still loved being able to spend the time with my mom and learn about the process of baking. Once we had all the cookies baked, and they had cooled off, she explained to me that we had to ice them with the homemade icing that we made. We used different colors of food coloring so that we could have a variety of cookies and colors. This was definitely my second favorite part. I loved being able to choose a character or Christmas shape, and then choose the different colors to ice it with. The entire process was really fun to me, but I knew I wanted to bake more. My mom eventually let me help her bake a variety of desserts. She taught me how to read the directions for making birthday cakes and pies. I also learned how to bake brownies and other types of cookies other than Christmas cookies as well. While baking was a lot of fun for me, I knew I wanted to learn how to cook too.

Once I had baking down pat, I eventually learned how to cook as well. I started out with small things such as macaroni and cheese and soup. My mom taught me to read the entire back of box so that I would know how high to put the stove on and to know which ingredients needed to be mixed with others. I eventually was able to make a lot of different things. Some of the things that I would make would be just from watching my mom or from memorization. If there was ever something that I didn’t know how to make, I knew to just read the instructions and follow them step by step. I began to have a huge passion for cooking and baking, and I finally asked my mom for cooking lessons.

Through the cooking lessons, I learned how to make many different things. Every lesson was dedicated to one item, and then there would be four or five different foods that were based around the one item. I took a class on making chocolate where we would have to listen to instruction and read different directions as well. There was a class on crepes and all of the different ways someone could make a crepe. I never even knew what a crepe was before that class. The variety of cooking classes really helped me broaden my horizons when it came to cooking. They also helped me take my time to make sure I was reading everything right and not messing up the final display.

While spending the time with my mom was very important to me, it was more about my passion for cooking and baking. Throughout the years, I have been very thankful to learn how to make certain things and the process that one has to take in order to make something good. I knew I was going to be able to use these lessons for the rest of my life. I am appreciative of the skills my mother taught me because now as a college student, I am able to make myself a variety of different things for any meal of the day. I also am able to use baking in a positive way with my friends and family when it comes to bringing a dessert over or even making a birthday cake for them. While my mom is a very good cook, I believe that I am on my way to becoming even better.

Another reason that cooking and baking has been very important to me, not only growing up, but also now as a college student, is my grandma. Since before I was born, my grandmother would spend every Sunday cooking and baking for my entire dad’s side of the family. Now at 81 years old, my grandma still cooks and bakes for over 25 people every Sunday. Not only is it great family time, but it is also amazing food. Throughout the 21 years that I have been alive, I have never once seen my grandma use a recipe card or follow instructions for any meal. Because she has been cooking and baking for so long, she has everything she needs to know memorized for every dish she ever makes. Because of this, I have often times gone over to her house and asked to make different things with her for that night’s meal. She puts so much love and care in everything she makes, that I can’t even narrow down my favorite item. I am very proud of my grandma for this very reason, and I honestly believe I get my passion for cooking and baking from her.

I hope that as I get older, I will be able to teach my children, if they want to learn, how to cook and bake. Even though I will never force any of it on them, I would still love to share my passion with them. I am grateful for the time my mother took with me to teach me how to read instructions and add ingredients together to make a final product. I am also very thankful that my grandmother has been able to share her passion and experience with me as well. I am appreciative for all of the guiding and instruction not only because I have learned the fundamentals to cooking and baking, but I am also able to make myself and others a variety of different items any time I want to. I will value the lessons that I have been taught, and I will hold on to these aspects for the rest of my life.