Ep.66 We Shall Wait For The Bakes (Awa - Home Baking)

7:04PM Dec 21, 2019

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Keywords:

baking

people

cupcakes

recipe

create

eat

hobby

cake

taste

cookies

flavor

topping

macros

find

share

call

put

big

oven

easy

Good day everyone you're listening to type your hobby and this is episode 66. We shall wait for the bakes. I'm your host Alex and today I have the honor to have our as my guest on the show how you doing today? I'm good how are you? I'm doing good. I'm sorry that you came here through the garage sale. It was hard for you to find parking and people were probably thinking Alex it's like the middle of November December whenever this is released because I record ahead of schedule. But there's a garage sale happening right now in September and it was kind of hard for her to find parking

wasn't the worst because luckily I know a place to park so I was able to find parking. Eventually.

Well, I'm glad to have you here. Now the weather is good. So we should probably be in a good mood, right? Yes.

Oh, yeah, exactly.

So today we're going to talk about our hobby. But before we do that, I'm sure we want to learn more about the amazing person in front of me. So who is our?

Well, I am 28. And I've lived in different places throughout my life. But Ottawa is now home. And I work as a content strategist. So when I am not doing my hobby, I am writing and thinking of creative ways to help brands market themselves.

Well, that's perfect. And before we dive too far deep again, do you have any social media links or websites that you would like to share?

Well, I am on Instagram. I do have my main page but I've started a patron my hobby recently. And yeah, I've been trying to keep up with it. It's a little bit harder because I managing that and doing other life stuff, but it is our Some Liam so it's a play on words with my name. So it's that's a w a s OMELYYUM.

Perfect and I'm so happy I have a personal page for your hobby which fits in perfectly with this. So I'm going to throw that in the description below so people can go check that out while listening to this episode and be like, Oh, cool. I'm getting hungry. Actually, I didn't even reveal what the hobby is yet. So yes, let's

see how I was doing the whole like I have a hobby but I'm not seeing it yet.

It's been a while so let me just present it right now. I was hobby is baking. Baking baking. Be word. Yes. So how did you get introduced to baking? Oh,

man, um, my mom used to bake cakes like that was her thing more like the coffee cakes and all of that. And I remember being maybe around like four or five and helping out with the mixing and all of that. And I think that's kind of when I started liking the process. But I didn't really get into baking in the way that I do it now. Until I was a bit older, and started to like, try all the different baked goods from different pastry shops and bakeries. And I'm like, Hey, I could try making that at home too. And I think that challenge is what kind of drove me to do what I'm doing right now. So it's trying something and being like, I could replicate it, or I could do it better.

Was there like one specific food started it all for you. Like you tasted really good cake. You're like, wow, I want to learn how to make this exactly.

Yeah, it was actually flans grammerly like those kind of desserts were like my advice. And so I needed to know how to make that and my mom made like an amazing one. And I just started like doing it like trying to like replicate that and eventually I started making them all by myself.

And Does your mom have a recipe book that she made personally that you use,

I wish it's all in her head. It's all without measurements, like you know, the African mom style. And I've started to do the same thing. Honestly, I would. I still follow recipes but I will kind of pull from my you know, my head and my imagination. And just like throw the gradients in there. So unfortunately she doesn't but maybe I'll get her to do it. I think it's going to be helpful down the line and who knows one day I'll publish a cookbook with her recipes in there. Right? That's cool. If you publish

a book I'd be like hey, I interviewed Oh, before she published her

book. Yes. And I will come back and talk about it. That's awesome.

So it's your a lot of like the guestimation like cook a baking and I'm the same way where it looks like about right Yeah, let's do it. Let's just add some more stuff in there and and it's just like a counterbalance and but it's the fun of it. Just try on race.

Yeah. And I find that it's one of those things where I know a lot of bakers are very loved the press like being precise and being able to wait things and like exactly a cup and like scoop it with a knife up top to make sure the cup is leveled. And I do that it depends on the recipe. If you're making something like maca hauls you have to have that like precision, but I don't think it's always necessary. I think the beauty of it all is to freeze thousand times and I know baking isn't is a science. It's not an exact science. You know, you can just play around with it. How Fun. Don't stress yourself out.

No, this is a really, really weird question. But do you prefer using millimeters or you prefer using teaspoons and cups,

teaspoons and cups all the way I have this little baking guide, I guess I can call it where it converts everything from alysus two milliliters two cups and always the cups of the teaspoons

is a lot easier for you. But can you do both?

I'm not exactly. I mean, having done it for a while. I'm starting to know that hey, like eight ounces is about 225 grams and things like that. But I still have to look it

up. And for you What would you say is the best part about baking on a personal and emotional level?

Oh man. So I love the process of bringing everything together like that beginning stages because it's really hard to screw it up right bed, the part where it's in the oven or where you're steaming things and whatnot that takes you know that stressful because you're like, Is it going to turn out? And when it turns out that's when I'm like oh yes. So I think that would be like the best part is like Having it ready ready to decorate or serve and seeing everybody enjoy it. I think that's the most like, exciting part of it all.

And do you have like, I don't know how to say this, but preferred things you like the big like the ones that you're like, these are the ones that I'm the best at baking,

I would say cupcakes are my go to, I haven't done them in a while in about a year or so. And I finally did them again two days ago. And I really I don't know why I stopped doing them. I think I wanted to try other things and kind of took a break from them. But cupcakes are my thing. And it's I kind of mastered the base recipes with a different flavor. So now I can kind of just throw something together in you know, a short amount of time and you can have fun with the way you decorated with the different flavors. It's easy to combine, you know, a base cake recipe with like whatever frosting you want to do so

yeah. And of course I have to ask what is your favorite cupcake? flavor? Oh, that's a tough

one. Okay, so I'm a vanilla girl. And I know for a lot of people that sounds boring a half but I love a good vanilla cupcake just maybe with some vanilla bean there in the mix and like a really solid vanilla icing. I said vanilla one too many times but can you tell I really love vanilla is good. I love it too. But yeah, I think if you it's really sometimes it's hard to find one that tastes the way that it should. So having a really nice like vanilla bean from somewhere like Costa Rica and like putting that into the mix just elevates a cupcake and it's hard to beat.

So I know you pretty well, you're a very energetic, very positive, very happy person. Do you tend to like dance while you're baking or listen to music or

I do. I always have to have music playing in the background, unless I'm doing something that requires radio silence. So baking is no exception. I always have a I don't have a specific playlist that goes on but I do just like to throw my Spotify on, put my speaker on and just like move around and just enjoy myself. And there are tasks that require me to be more like focused on what I'm doing and the task at hand. But for the most part music is always on I'm singing along with it and dancing and Yeah, sometimes I have to go back and be like, Oh crap, did I actually get the recipe? Right? Because I got lost in singing lizzo But hey,

just fall into it. Yeah, throwing the powder and everything from across the room.

Yeah, and then have to clean it all up again. But yeah,

so you're gonna watch do you make a big mess in your kitchen or you're pretty good at keeping everything tidy.

I'm actually really good at keeping a tidy. I think that's one thing but you absolutely need to do to kind of keep yourself sane throughout the whole process because it baking is you need to use so many bowls and so many cups and spoons. And if you don't clean up as you go, you're going to be done. By the end of it, you're going to be so tired and you're going to hate yourself for not having to clean up after yourself. And the last thing I want us to like create something delicious and not be able to like enjoy it right after what everybody else rather than being in the kitchen and like cleaning up and

all of that Speaking about your tools, your equipment, your weapons, what do you what are your preferred tools you like to use

my favorite thing to use in the kitchen as my KitchenAid stand mixer. It is it was a gift and I it just changed my life. I've always wanted it, I could have gotten it myself but decided, you know, every time I get around to nearly doing it, it's one of those things where it's like, but do I absolutely need it, you know, I have like I had my other mixers and I have like all these other equipment that I can use. And then I finally got it for my birthday a few years ago and I'm like, wow, this is what everybody's been talking about. Like it changes your life. And I don't use it for everything because some recipes are more delicate and needs to be folded by hand. But that is definitely my go to for most recipes. That's where it starts.

And is there some sort of machine that doesn't exist yet but you think that would be so helpful to have in the kitchen while you're baking?

Oh, that's a tough one.

I don't know yet. I don't I don't think I've ever thought about that. But now he will

Like, maybe like Yeah, one been everything done.

I mean, it'd be nice to kind of have something that cools the baking goods faster especially when you're home baking because when you watch a lot of culinary shows, and especially a lot of those Netflix competitions, these are busy people but their goodies and the blast breezers what they call it, and they're able to kind of cool speed up the cooling process so they can go ahead and decorate because they're, you know, there's a time crunch there. And I think at home you can do the same by putting it in the fridge or freezer, but it's not a natural cooling process right it's you know, you're you're going to be ruining something somewhere I figured at some point so I think having something that speeds up the process like maybe some sort of mini fan but that does more than just like blow food. I think that would be helpful to like leave it on my calendar and just have it like cool a bit faster. So you can I get to the icing part and all that.

There you go. You just thought of a machine that you want it and that's cool. I didn't know that'd be an idea. Like so many things. Somebody make this like a portable like just a homemade version of a cool blaster, he says,

These are things called last name this one.

patent pending if you guys are making this machine, you know, you gotta throw in some credits for our night, please. No, do you take baking classes? Or do you like to learn just by going online or reading books? Or where do you go to learn new recipes?

Well, right now online is definitely my go to. But I also talked to people a lot. I have a lot of friends and co workers and family members that also love to bake. And I think just having discussions with them and being like I did this last week, and it turned out like this and not and then they're saying, well, maybe you need to do this next time or you need to like, take this out or add that. And I think having that conversation about our successes and failures when it comes to baking helps me figure out where I can improve. And then online is there's such a resource like being on the internet with the different forums and blogs, and I appreciate when bloggers in like, you know, just home chefs are able to kind of share their failures. It's not just always because you go to some blog, and it's just perfect baked goods every time right? And you're like, Okay, I'm sure you failed a couple of times before you mastered that recipe and I would like to see that side of it, because it helps others improve. And just knowing that I tried that Mac or recipe 10 times before getting it right. These are the steps that helped me Master it that I find really helpful and I think that's what the internet is good for. Showing that kind of vulnerable side of like baking because it's easy to be like I made great big guns and this is how they turn out every time but that's not true. It's kind of like I woke up like this. Yeah, exactly. Right. So I think have those forums. Reddit is another place with all the different threads and like people talk about their experiences with baking. Instagram, even though it's not as extensive you're able to write a big caption explain like your process. Sometimes. I think all of that. helps me. I wish I was more into cookbooks. But I find them a lot more harder now to kind of like flip a page while doing something. So I do appreciate a really good one. One of my favorites is actually a book that I got as a gift again. And it's Babette and Belle, they have a bakery in Toronto. And I love how they their the layout of their recipes, how they explain it, and the taste. So I've been kind of going through that and seeing where I can create something similar as well, and kind of put my own flavor to it. So yes,

that's cool. I love how long like you take the recipe, and you try to twist it to make it and I wouldn't say appealing but like you want to put your creativity into it. Yeah,

definitely. I find that it's, it's one of those things where it's almost like writing which I do a lot of right and it's there are you can be creative with it. There aren't exactly ORIGINAL IDEAS anymore in a way right when it comes to writing and music sometimes like it can sound originality can end up being that way. But you need to usually draw inspiration from something that already exists, right? And then layer, add a layer to that or how many other layers you want. And I find it's the same thing with baking, I find myself getting a recipe from somewhere or getting that inspiration and saying, How can I put like the hour somebody touched to it? And then that's kind of what I've been doing lately. If and it doesn't, sometimes it fails. Sometimes I'm like, Well, I tried. And other times, it turns out really well. And I just have to now learn to kind of put all of those like my additions to that recipe together and put it down somewhere. I'm really bad for keeping track of what changes I make, I do them on the fly. And sometimes when it's done, someone's gonna have the recipe. I'm like, I'm not trying to be mean, I love to share my recipes. You know, but I honestly don't remember exactly what I did. So let me go back and you know, figure out what I added or what I took out and get back to you on that. So, yeah,

do you have a secret ingredient that you like to use? And most of your recipes like that our touch? You know what I mean?

Right? Well, I don't know if it's a secret, but

if you can't reveal don't reveal it. It's like a secret.

And that's exactly what I'm saying. It's I don't think it's a secret. But I love to use orange blossom water in a lot of my baked goods, and I think it just adds a little extra, that extra dimension of flavor to it. And it's really good for cupcakes and even just putting in a little bit of some pie or if you're making some sort of crumble a Flan panna cotta, all of that having to start little something different. You know, when you eat something you're like, the sounds like like, this feels and tastes familiar, but there's something to it. That's just like different. That's what I find orange blossom water as two things and it's all thanks to my mom. She loves using it and a lot of things to you in that so I started kind of trying experimenting with it. And so yeah, that's one of the ingredients. I like putting into things

so it sounds like you make your bakes who make it so people are trying to guess the flavor as they're going through like just

do yeah, to a certain degree. I like playing around with the unusual things. I mean, the cupcakes I was just talking about earlier, it was a I went apple picking and so I we had like I have so many apples and didn't know what to do with them. So I started coming up with different recipes and one of them an easy one, instead of doing pumpkin spice, which is really popular this time of year. I decided to do Apple spice and you know, it's it's the similar concept with different you know, a different fruit and also just similar spices but just having people being like, Oh, this is almost like pumpkin spice but it's not. And then topping it up with cookie butter cream cheese, right like cookie butter is something that people love. Like it was trending for so long and suddenly it's it's a it's bit. It's a bit quieter around that ingredient now, and I figured let's bring it back. Let's let's see how we can bring it back. So pretty. Jeez goes really well with all of these like fall things, right? Like pumpkin spice and stuff. So I'm like, let's, let's put it all together. Let's see what people think like, you know, while they're eating it, what can they pick up? Like, what are the notes in there? So that's kind of like that's how I like to do it.

No, baking is a lot like fashion in the sense where some trends come and go. Is there any trends that are coming back when it comes to baking?

Ah, that's a good question. Um, right now, there's a lot of the unusual things that people don't really go to like lavender. And when it comes to like decorating, it's all about like, the more the geode kind of style of cakes, right, Andres really big right now. And I think it's the unicorn. The unicorns are everywhere. Whether it's cakes and cupcakes and even macros, and it's all the idea of like the fun adding color, like rainbows, right? So I think that those are the trends right now, I would say and I'm sure there's going to be they're going to be around for a while. Because they've been slowly creeping into our lives over the last few years, so they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Well, I'm excited to try them. I will have horrible tongue. I am very, very plain, but I love them. So hopefully I can develop a sense of taste one day. But to flip gears out of 10 times, how many times would you fail? I'm sorry, if that sounds like an offensive question. No,

not at all. It's a good question. I think it's grown up thing to admit your failures, right? It'd be like, yeah, I fail. And I do out of 10, maybe two to three times. And I find that sometimes what it is it's it's subjective. Personally, I am like, yeah, that was a failure. But my family's like, oh, that tastes so good. I'm like, no, it's missing this or I should have done it this way. Or I wish it was like it. You know, I wish the cupcakes were a little bit like not as quite as they are. So there are things that I consider a fail that others might not necessarily think it is and I think admitting that to myself helps me improve. So the next time I do it, I'll recognize, okay, this word went wrong. Here's how I can fix it. So yeah, maybe two to three times out of 10.

I feel I feel your pain where like when it comes to editing, same with baking, right? overanalyze. You look for the smallest details, you think this is gonna, the person's going to only focus on that, and in reality, they're just focusing on Oh, this is really good, right? Really, you didn't notice this part that I really messed up right here. It's like,

No, you're right. And I think what it is, is having, like I said, I watch a lot of the cooking shows, right? And all those bacon shows on on Netflix and so on. And I find that the way the judges kind of judge the product, the end product, they're looking for those tiny things that other people don't look for. So when I watch these things, I'm learning right? I'm okay be this. They made this cake and everybody anybody else if you took it to a birthday party or a wedding, people would love it because it's delicious. Right? But there's something about it that somebody who really understands baking and food will kind of pick out. Right. So what are those things? Whether it's texture, maybe it's just the amount of sugar in it, right? So there's all those things that I think professionals will pick out. And that's when I watch these things. I'm okay when I do mine. This is what I do. This is what I will avoid. So yes, I'm, I'm my own like, harshest critic.

I'll be there for you. We'll be there for each other we support each other you'll see all your podcast is great. I mean, like all your baking is great. You're like, your life. And Has it ever happened to you that you thought you missed up a recipe, but it ended up turning out great.

Oh, yeah. Oh, definitely. 100% I can't exactly think of what recipe but it's happened a number of times where, deep down I am like this is not what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to turn out to be something else. I'm trying to think of what I did recently. I think you might have been like a bread pudding of sorts but should be easy in theory, but it's really you know, you can mess it up like easily it's it can be too wet it can be too dry. So I was trying to create bread pudding and it ended up being slightly over baked and turned out to be more of like a bread cake you know? And like and yeah I topping it with whipped cream or it was I think was like some kind of topping Cameron what exactly what I did, but people enjoyed it and it was like, Oh, what is this? I'm like it's supposed to be but um, yeah, I was like, well, it's more like bread cake now. So yeah,

you're like, this was the reality but ended up like this I wanted originally. That's

right, exactly. But people enjoyed it. And by people it was my family. Mostly, but yeah, they, they loved it and I will try and make it again and hopefully this time it will be actual bread pudding.

Speaking about family and other people, do you prefer to bake alone or with company?

Oh solo, I don't mind if somebody wants me to show them my recipe or if I have friends over or go to their place and we have some baking nights and all of that, that's fun. I don't mind doing that we kind of pick a recipe beforehand. And we get all the ingredients and you know, get together and gossip and bake while we do it. But generally, when I'm trying to like weather test out a recipe or recreate one and try to like, you know, be good at it. I like to do it solo, just me and my music.

So if your mom came out to you said, Hey, I would like to bake with you. Would you say yes. Or would you say No, I'm good. Generally, I

would say yes. It really depends on what it is, but bless her soul, but my mom loves to be like, let's bake something together. But it's really more like Will you bake something for me while I somewhat assist you? That's really what it is. So in the end, she I mean, she's an active woman, like she loves to be in the kitchen, she loves to cook, she loves to bake, when she's, you know what the things that she's good at, she'll just go ahead and do it herself. But when it comes to things that she likes a little help with, it ends up being me being like, Okay, I'm just gonna take this over right now. And I'm just going to do it, whether that's me being I don't know if it's my fault and just being like, I'm just going to take all of this and like, go ahead and do it. Or if it's more her being like, yeah, this is what I want to do, you can go ahead and like create this for me. So we haven't figured it out. Whose fault is it just yet? Maybe it's a 5050 thing. But um, yeah, for the most part, I don't mind doing it because we don't do it often. And we don't do it enough. And it's kind of sometimes it's nice quality time. And do you test your own bakes? Or do you have somebody else tested for you? Haha. So I do I test my own. Sometimes. It depends on what you're creating, because I find if you're creating if you're making a whole cake, it's really hard to just like cut a piece and You know, and try it. So I'd have to like, Wait till if I know that I'm going to be making a cake for a birthday or something, I'll recreate some version of it, whether it may be in a cupcake format so that we can test it at home or whatnot. And then see if I need to adjust things before creating the actual like one that I'm going to be taking two places. But for the most part, I just tend to try it because I'm by myself and nobody else is around. So I'll just do it. And then when it's ready, then I'll be like, okay, test one. If it's good, then we can take it out of the house and, you know, go public with it.

So okay, then I like that, like trial and like, all right, you're the you're the prop. You're the test. Exactly. Then you're the real one. Right. Yeah, I like that. And does other people's opinions have an impact on your baking?

I would say sometimes, it's one of those things where you can't take things to heart when it comes to I think that applies for a lot of hobby, right? It's, it's what you do. It's what you love to do and people's opinions. can help you improve on it. But there's a lot of times where your taste is just not the same as someone else's right? And they may not enjoy something you created, you enjoy it, maybe other people around you do like it as well. But you're always going to have someone be like, Well, you know, that was okay. And you can't you can't take it to heart. You know, just bringing in the writing again, it's the same thing. You always have to be open to constructive criticism, and even non constructive criticism, right? Someone's going to be like, well, that's trash. And you just have to take it and be like, okay, yeah, maybe next time the thing I make will be something you enjoy. So

especially for bake it's very subjective. Yes, everybody has different taste buds. So I can imagine you're we're not going to please everybody and that's understandable. And that's a mindset you have to go into when you first start baking and sharing it with people right? Yeah,

exactly. It's, I find that sometimes I like these main a wildoe flavors like elderflower and Earl Grey and not everybody's into those things right. And some somebody who I try it and just be okay. Well, I tried it it was not my thing and I shouldn't be hurt by that. Right maybe I should just be like okay, well let me make something that you like next time and kind of and I do that a lot where it's like okay but what what flavors Do you like, you know what kind of creative thing would you eat and take that back and maybe create something

I like gold flakes, a lot of gold flakes. forget anything else just gold make me gold.

Now I'm gonna have to go back and find something to create with lots of gold.

And so this is that's definitely a challenge. So on that note, what was your biggest challenge when you first started baking,

I think presentation and it's I know it sounds silly, but a lot of times with with food in general, but specially baking even it needs to look a certain way you need to present it a certain way. Because the eyes eat first. And a lot of times it's it's funny that I'm going to say this but I don't eat a lot of big Goods goes for I love looking at them. I like just, you know, walking into a shop and being like, Damn, that looks good. And Damn, I want to eat that. But the excitement eventually dies down like I'll grab, I'll you know, I'll say grab the cranber lay and it's delicious and I love it. But it's like the most exciting part of the whole experience was seeing it all there right on display and the way it looks and the skill that goes into the presentation and doesn't have to be anything fancy like I'm by no means an artist. I'm still working on my frosting skills and icing, but just being able to just create something that people want to eat even with before realizing what it is right. And I think so for I think that's for me, one of the things I had a hard time with my first started baking because I would just create a cupcake and like us butter knife and just spread the icing on top of it like box cake style, right? And then over time I realized, hey, if you make if you put a little bit more effort into making this look appealing, more people will eat it even before they realize what's in it.

If you were to ask my wife she would say I'm a very simplistic eater if it's food I'll eat it even if it looks horrible and will its food cool. I'll eat it right so if you were to give me like your test dummy bakes that don't look good. I'll eat in like, Oh my god, this is amazing. For me, presentation doesn't mean anything. Okay? At the end of the day, like it can be the most beautiful thing but it doesn't taste as good. But if you're baking, I would imagine tastes amazing because that you put a lot of personality into it as well.

Yeah, yeah, I would like to think so. I've been to also so hopefully that's the truth. But yeah, I think it's and that's not always the case sometimes, like food, I cook a lot as well. And sometimes I don't care what it looks like. It's It's delicious. And sometimes the messiest things, the messy is looking things tastes The best. It was on the show the other day with john five row. That's what chef Roy was talking about where he's like, I don't care about making my food look looking good. I just care that it tastes like onpoint. And I think that's important to a certain degree. But baking is all about the eyes first.

So I gotta train my eyes to appreciate it.

Yeah, maybe I'll start sending you like pictures every day and be like, this is your training skill for the day.

Yeah, it's like, find a different spot.

Skills Test, do it.

I'm ready for that. I'm ready, of course. So is do you have different challenges today or they're still relatively similar,

a little similar. I find that I'm still focused on with the way I want things to look. But I think for me now the challenge is taking things a step further in terms of like skill, and not just decorating skills, but actually creativity and creating something out of the box or maybe just even recreating some of the Difficult French desserts, right? I recently made a Claire's and I did them before. And the same landed the moment, okay, I now have to focus on like, my piping when I, you know, on on the tray and just how I really wanted to like I wanted to be as close to that bakery look as possible kind of thing instead of just being like well, and that's fine if it's not because you're doing at home you don't have all the tools or the equipment or even the years of experience that all these other bakeries do but right now that's I'm at that stage where it's I want to recreate all of these amazing things that you know your make your eyes pop when you see them, but not just because of the look but tastes right and that quality. So the challenge is still you know a little bit presentation a little bit process.

And what was your biggest accomplishment?

Oh, that's a tough one. But I think there were a few I remember one of the ones that stick out the most is a sing the makeover I have attempted them a couple of times, not nearly as many as a lot of people on the internet. A lot of forums I was on some people have done so many batches before getting them right. But I think being on those forums helped me do it in less, you know, less steps. But I remember one of the first times I created them, the taste was there, but they turned out to look like whoopie pies. You know, so I was like, well, let's just not call these macros.

Call them whoopie pies.

Yeah. And then them again, and you know, some shelf crack. There was no feech. I'm not sure if you know what the feed is. But it's that bubbly part that comes out the bottom of the macros like, you know, the barn that looks all Yeah, perforated. So that's what they call the feet. And to get that you have to let the macros sit out after you pipe them for a number of minutes or actually any 15 to 20 minutes depending on the room temperature, right and the conditions of the web. They're outside. So I like making macros in the winter because it drives the top faster, and then the feet will kind of come up, summer is a bit too humid, so it takes a bit longer. So these are all things that I figured out and in due time, I was able to like get the batch, right and now it's one of those things where it's almost like I can do it in my sleep, right? Go in and just like okay, we're gonna, and it's, it doesn't use that many ingredients. McEnroe shells all tastes the same. It's the it's the feeling, right? So once you master that, that's all you need. If you know how to do the shells, right, you're you're set. So that was one of my big accomplishments where I'm like, Damn, I got this now and I can see why there's so much hype and why they're expensive when you get them at the store because there's a lot of like effort and skill that goes into it. Despite only using about like four ingredients. Maybe so. Yeah, that's one of the I think that would be like the biggest one.

That's cool. I love how you have a feeling that you haven't stuck in your head that you haven't vividly in your head. The most. When you accomplish really yeah,

it's like I did it and it's it's just you see it because you don't want to turn the I worry sometimes about turning the oven light on because it might add extra additional heat. So I just like, like sit on the kitchen floor watching. Yeah, so I turn off the kitchen, I turn off the main light, because it does help to just have a little bit of that like, light coming from the oven. And just like watch the macros, and then seeing that like they're rising and the fee is there. It's just yeah, it's one of those moments where you're like I did that,

like a pat on your back.

Exactly. Yeah. And

this is another question but do you have different things you like to bake throughout the year so let's say fall you like to bake something with pumpkin or cherries and macaroni or summer spring?

Yeah, so fall is especially close as Thanksgiving is coming. Being around the corner. Now. I like to kind of experiment with those like flavors. Like what can I serve with like Thanksgiving dinner? So a lot of the bunk cakes and you know, and pies, I do them throughout the year like stagger them. But yeah it's an cupcakes and things that kind of feel like fall right and then winter time specially with Christmas and the holiday season, it's all about truffles and, you know, the Christmas cookies shortbread is one of my favorite things to make. And so Chris creating those, I actually believe it or not only tried making gingerbread cookies from scratch for the first time ever last Christmas. They turned out amazing. And I will be recreating them again and I for the first time I actually created different cookies and put them in a tin and share them with friends and family. So I'm going to start making that a tradition and maybe every year I'll just do a surprise cookie right so have the shortbread and the gingerbread and maybe a different flavor that they haven't tried before. So that's kind of what I like to do are in the winter time and then spring and summer. It's About like the new season and it's like nice and bright out so I do a lot of the lemon bars and and go lattes and things that kind of represents summer right I think last year I made some elderflower and lemon donuts and just you know things that people will eat and be happy and cheerful and feel like oh my god it's a brand new day and it's sunny and the weather is beautiful. So yeah, so it really depends on the mood to because sometimes you are you'll find in the middle of summer baking something really dark like a berry cobbler does that mean you're

angry

maybe not angry but maybe just want you know it to be cooler and like get here fall or it kind of thing so yeah, like I'm not a summer person.

I'm there with you. I sweat profusely and this room has no good air ventilation. So it's a sweat sweat lodge is

bad though right now. I think it's like I've kind of gotten used to it. So which is good.

Yeah, I would open up the window but then the outside sound will come out. Either way, either way. Now talking about more darker things. What are some missing conceptions about people who bake

that we eat all of our baking goods. I like to share mine, I think when I made I made a batch of 24, the two batches of cupcakes, so 24 and I think I ate one. And it's it because I wanted to test it and see what the hype is all about. But I think that's one thing where a lot of times, you're, when you're done, you're either you're too tired, or you've smelled all of the different, you know, smells in the air, and you're just like, you already feel like you've eaten a whole batch of whatever it is that you're baking. So I think that's the, that's one of the biggest things was like, Oh my god, like you must be eating all of that stuff. And it must be really nice to be able to just do it on your own. And habitat. I'm like, honestly, no. I'm usually like, I'll take it to work like they did yesterday, or I'll just let my siblings I have two brothers. They're big growing boys. So they will eat anything and everything. My sister, the tiniest person ever but loves to eat, and she'll also do the same thing. So Sometimes I'll share with my neighbor across the street, right? So a lot of times I don't actually eat my own things, I will taste it. And it's not that I don't want to. It's just how I am. So yeah, I think that's one of the misconceptions for sure.

You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like you're more of the type of person you're more about the journey, rather than the destination.

Yeah, yeah, I think just exactly like starting the thing. And then having something in your head is very different than, you know, creating it. Because I have these wild things in my head, like, I'm going to create this and that and that, and then you get started and things aren't going well. And then suddenly, somewhere, there's a hiccup and you're like, Oh, my God, why did I even attempt this? And then you know, and then things start to you fix things. And that's one of the biggest things about baking is you need to be able to know how to fix things when they go wrong, because a lot of times there is a solution. It may not yield the results that you initially wanted, but there is some sort of solution to save it right. So being able to fix things and then put it in the oven and see that So yeah, a lot of times for me, it's about the journey, like, you know, the things I do and you know, that accomplishment, but sense of accomplishment. And then, you know, whoever gets to it gets Do

you seem like a really driven person? And when you're baking, you're like, yes, this is my objective. This is my project. And once you finish, you're like, cool. I'm done. What's the next project?

Yeah, no. 100% that's, that's how I think about it. I after the cupcakes yesterday, right away, I'm like, I still have so many damn apples. What else can I do with them and now I'm kind of trying to think of like what the apple tree out is going to be for my for the next couple of days. And I think the next thing I'm going to tackle is like a skillet cobbler. So it's just, you know, Apple and some spices and just doing it all on the skillet and then popping in the oven, some crunchy topping, maybe some homemade honey whipped cream, something like that. So I'm thinking about it, having hundred percent decided but yeah, that's what I do. I'll create something, be like great. Now what's next and then it's, you know, if I had a More time then I will be doing the more often, but I always have this. I like thinking ahead because it allows me to kind of give myself that time to be like, on this day. I'm going to do this right. So

yeah. And do you want to present this hobby to the world are using more as an escape from reality?

It's definitely an escape. Yeah. I think one of the biggest things for me when it comes to baking, it's I find it really therapeutic. I like to kind of be in my own world and do my own thing. And I know people who don't quite get baking or enjoy doing it think it's really stressful and I can see why, you know, you're creating something that you're not guaranteed will turn out the way you want it to. So that can be stressful for people, right people who are results driven, but for me, Yes, I do. You know, strive for the best result possible, but a lot of it for me is just kind of, okay, when I'm here I don't have to think about anything else. I don't have to worry about my work duties on have to worry about like, drama or anything. It's just me in the kitchen and all my tools, right? So yeah, definitely an escape

was exactly the same thing for me with this. Well, it's an escape, but I'm sharing with the world. So it's a world of escape with it with everybody listening.

There you go. And yeah, it's I find that I like to, sometimes I will document the step by step process and share it with like my close friends and be like, I started, here's step one here, step two, and, you know, so yes, in a way I am escaping, but I'm also bringing in, I'm bringing friends along this journey. But I think ultimately, it's just the escape from the usual day to day things, right? The usual life stuff where it's like, oh, no, I don't I don't want to socialize today. So this is where I am, right? I don't want to do some extra work at home today. So this is what I'm going to be doing instead.

No, I completely get it. It's your time. And it's very important for your mental health to just have that time for yourself.

Exactly. It's just like the way people meditate or do yoga. Right. So That's, that's, that's like, for me, that's what baking is about.

And do you have any word of advice for anybody who might be interested in picking up baking as a hobby or even people who already are baking?

Um, I think just always learning. Always be open to learning new things because you can't master baking. It's such a vast, like thing, right? It's there's always something that you'll discover every day and you're like, how? Why didn't I think of that? Or like, Oh my god, how did they do that? So and that's, you know, it touches on different part elements of baking, whether it's like just the creativity aspect of it and you know, thinking of what flavors come up with or whether it's the process and maybe I think I came across something recently that was talking about how when you using a stand mixer to create certain goodies, the whipping and that metal touch on metal creates extra friction and heat My impacts your end result. Not a lot of people think about that right. And so sometimes you need to maybe step away from the mixer that you love so much. And just do it by hand or find a different process, I believe it was about it was bread or pizza dough. Because sometimes you can, you can create it, you can make it using the mixer, right or the food processor. And so these are things that you learn as the more you bake or even just at the beginning, just do some research, read, read on things, make make your cookbook, your weekend, read this kind of thing, right? And just be open to learning new things. I think that applies to a lot of hobbies, right? It's like the more you do it, the more you're open to learning from other people, the more you'll improve. So for me that's I think that would be my biggest advice.

I did not know that that small like impact can have a new like small things can have an impact but just the metal friction can change the whole thing. That's crazy. Yeah,

for sure. And then even just like sometimes it's something is even needing right you're needing stuff and it's You're doing it because you want that gluten to form but also like how much needing you need to do right and same thing with macros you some people will say you need to fold in the egg whites into the you know, the sorry, the almond flour into the egg whites for 75 turns and others will say oh no do it for 100 turns. So but you need to be for you to understand what what why they got to that number, you need to do it yourself and you need to learn, okay, for me, this is the consistency that works and this is how I've gotten to it. And then but you you get to get you get to that point by kind of learning from other people and what they've done in their experiences. So yeah, the little things makes the biggest difference

and speaking about other people, how is the community in Ottawa, the bacon community,

I'm a really bad community member.

I do. I do follow a lot of food blogs and and that kind of stuff but I'm Not too into the baking scene, I've always been kind of like behind the scenes where I like observe from afar and I do my thing on the side. So like I said, I just started my Instagram page. And there's no really blog link to it. It's just, it's a place for me. It's something that holds me accountable that I'll go on and say, Hey, I haven't posted here in a week, let's create something, let's share it with the world. So for me, it's that's kind of how I contribute to the auto baking scene. I don't but I would really like to start kind of, you know, communicating more with the members and, and people around here. confession, I am part of a Facebook group that is based in Toronto. And it's one of those groups that's really all about sharing people, you know, people sharing their work and sharing recipes worth and their experiences, successes and failures. So I think I'm not aware something like that does exist in Ottawa, but I'm If it does great would love to join if it doesn't, maybe I could start one. Right So yeah, I'm going to try and be a bit better at that. Now that I am my kind of on the online scene for that but overall like when it comes to food and like baking so just a culinary thing auto is like it's pretty up there now. There's there are a lot of passionate people who are passionate about food and just whether it's sharing their passion with other people in just a photography way where you know, go eat out capture photo, let people know about it, or whether they're the ones creating in there. They're both, you know, both kinds of people here now and I think that's kind of putting us on the map like that. And you're you're participating you're

helping out with that I am so hopefully I'm doing my part by sharing your story with the world. Yeah. Speaking about sharing if you want what is your social media handles? I think they're called links.

Well, I think handles are correct to

well, the one I mentioned the beginning that is my Baking page on Instagram. So that's our son, Liam. And we'll include that link and spell it out in the, when we share this and then my main page is at h boy. So it's at h i O ye perfect. I'll put that in the description below.

Like I said, I will share all that information, you guys can go learn and maybe get inspired to create something new, and share your inspirations or your creations with our base offer her recipes and you can bounce ideas off each other. And yeah, this I'm just the middleman. I've done my part I threw in words and stuff like that. And speaking about being the middleman who knows nothing. Do you have any questions for me about baking?

Have you been baking? See, I had

so I had a friend on for baking an episode A while ago and she asked the same thing, relatively the same thing and I guess it's always good to have a second opinion. Right? I like making crepes is crepes considered baking or cooking?

Technically it's cooking, and I did have your crepes when we had that little cottage getaway and they were delicious. I have to get that out there. They were Good, but I wouldn't really consider them baking. In that case,

I have not baked but I do have an instant pot.

Hear me, I didn't realize that's where this was going. But okay.

Product placement is Paul wants to sponsor this episode, by all means, and I'm just kidding.

Send me one by all means.

You can make cakes and stuff like that. And yeah, I'm a big fan of banana bread and Okay, like, I grew up with that. And I want to give it a try eventually, but I always eat the banana. So I never have enough bananas to make. I just love bananas. So I never get around to like, Oh, yeah, should make a banana cake, but I just never get around because I need all the bananas. But if I were to start baking, I think that probably be the first one I try and hopefully not burn down the house.

Okay,

and you know what, no judgment. And I still don't think it's baking. Because you're, it's, I mean, it's with the Instant Pot like it's not the same, but I'm glad that you're willing to try it. And I think that's the first step is like encouraging anybody who really wants to try with You know, experimenting with baking to just do something. And I think that if that turns out well, hopefully it does. You'll taste it and be like, who I wonder what will taste like when it's made in the oven?

I don't have any stewpot know I have an oven but lazy bombs, like a hobby. No.

But no, I think that's a good first step honestly and banana bread is fairly easy. And it's just mixing it all in one pot.

I'll find a way to screw it up.

I have faith in you.

At least someone knows.

Someone has to write. But yeah, and then, you know, maybe trying to have a next time you'll see well I

guess the question to ask you is what would be a good easy first recipe for me to try out maybe cookies. Oh, but not like the pre paid pre made cookies like

I told you I'm a simple man. And when it comes to this stuff,

it's funny that I say cookies because that is probably my weakest. thing like when it comes to baking shortbread? I love it. chocolate chip cookies not so much so and you'll see him on my pages I do not really make it for that reason. So but people love to say that it's one of the easiest things to do and I mean even this kids, right, we all made cookies with our parents and all that kind of stuff. Hopefully we all did. So, yeah, maybe try cookies, maybe just something as simple as chocolate chip. Again, it's all a one bowl mix kind of thing. It's fun you can play around with the shapes and the and stuff so yeah,

the shape is going to be ugly if I make it but

it's that's good cookies, right? Like they don't have to like look bad grade. Just, you know, pile them up, take a picture of it and shop you know, yeah, you know.

So yeah, there you have it another body with a hobby. Thank you so much for coming on the show and letting me expose my horrible cooking habits and sharing your story and your passion for cooking or not cooking baking. So Passion for baking. I'm so happy you came on. And we talked about this for a while. And thank you

so much again. Thanks for having me. This was fun. And maybe when that book comes out, I'll be back here.

And if it does come out, I'll put it in the description below so you guys can go check that out. Awesome. So yes, if you want to learn more about our you can go check her out in the description below, there's going to be the links to all her Instagram pages. And if you'd like to be on my podcast or have any questions at all, you can send me an email at Tom for your hobby at gmail. com. And of course, if you think this episode's gonna be helpful for anybody if they're going through a hard time and the baking to escape from reality or just meditating, get let this smells come in and just let the happiness come through. By all means pick up baking, try it out, you can mess up, I promise you, you'll be better than me. It just as long as you don't burn down the house. It's a success in my books. So uh, yeah, and if you'd like to say that, okay, probably did I said if you would like to be on my podcast, you can send me an email at time for your hobby at gmail. com. Or you can just ask questions. I know I might have already said that, but I'll say it again. So until then, Next episode, make some time for your hobby. Take care