In the beginning

For as long as I can remember I loved to bake.

I used to watch my Mum and Nanna cooking meals, baking treats and like every other little girl I couldn't wait until they let me make something.
They used to let me flip pikelets, cut the scone dough, and of course lick the bowl.

I remember when I was old enough, I would visit my grandparents on their farm, my Nanna would have a packet mix of White Wings Continental or Lemon Cheesecake that she bought specially for me to make for my Pop.

I always looked forward to going to the farm, and especially looked forward to making Pop's cheesecake.

Jelly was another thing I was allowed to make, but of course I wasn't allowed to add the boiling water.

As I got older, more into my teens, I began to make some meals, Tuna casserole and Spaghetti Bolognaise were my specialties then, they were pretty much all I could make.
I think my dad got so sick of eating them everytime I offered to make dinner.
Then there was Chocolate cake, to this day dad still cringes at the thought of having to eat chocolate cake.

I took cooking classes at high school, I used to take my empty ice cream container to school, ready to fill up with whatever treat we were making for the class that day.

It never seemed fair that the teacher would show us how to "cream the butter and sugar", and she would be using an electric beater and we were using a wooden spoon with stone cold butter.
We would have to fight each other for the sinks so we could put our bowls in hot water to soften the butter.

Then there were the ovens we had to share, sometimes they hadn't been turned on prior to class, so of course, we had to wait for them to heat up, there is only so much you can do in a 1 hour class.

No wonder our stuff never turned out the same as the teachers.

Oh well, however things turned out, it instilled in me a passion for cooking that has lived on throughout my life.

I have graduated from the basic tuna casserole days and now have a broader range of meals..(pheww says dad), although I still make a mean spag bol and chocolate mudcake.

I hope to share some more stories and recipes with you, and feel free to share yours with me.

BB