The lessons baking taught me....

And so, after years of indulging in decadent treats from the oven, I decided it was high time I learnt to make (bake) them myself! 

Starting with google-ing some recipes and trying them using the trial error method, I graduated to taking a basic baking course, to sort out my fundamentals about this art.

It is certainly an Art, to which I have taken as a fish to water, and which leaves me with lessons that are starting to influence the other areas of my life too.

So yes, lessons come through the good and lessons come through the bad and sometimes, lessons come when a cup cake goes from being ‘Okay’ to ‘Lip-smacking right’!

So here's what baking taught me;

Precision:

Baking calls for precise timing and measurements. If a recipe calls for 30 minutes of baking, the 31^st could cause it to burn or melt or simply spoil away. 1 unit of an ingredient cannot become 2, simply because we like it more than the other ingredients.

This precision gives us a balance, which is as much necessary in life. One can’t be too ambitious, too stingy, too fun-loving or too thrifty. To get the mix right, be a little of each!

Work hard, have fun, spend time with your people, exercise, binge and learn....regularly and in the required proportion.

Get the basics right:

In baking, for the best results, it is necessary to use the best quality ingredients. One needs to take the effort, time and money to select the right ingredients.

Success in life depends on the decisions we make and the decisions depend on our basic make. So it is important to have a sound value system, to educate ourselves well, to have access to good books and other information devices and most importantly ,to connect with the right influences.

Essence rules:

The essence of the final outcome lies in how good it tastes. A pretty looking dish which is low on taste does not get beyond a few nibbles.

And so, it is infinitely better to Be good rather than just Look good!

Not good to neglect the appearance either:

Having said that taste rules, it is important to have a spruce up the dish, once it gets cooked. It must look good and happy enough for anyone to pick it up and eat.

Similarly, an immaculate and well-turned out person is the reflection of an amiable and social mind. While it is not necessary to spend a fortune on one’s appearance, it is certainly incorrect to roam around like one is just out of bed!

Keep evolving:

The basic baking course taught me a few varieties of cakes and pies and mousses. But as I delved deeper into this subject, I realized that there are innumerable ways to make the same thing. Further, there are the Red-velvets, the Pavlovas, the Macaroons, the Tarts and several other exotic varieties of food that can come from the humble-looking oven.

So is life. Having mastered the basics, one must constantly keep trying the seemingly difficult stuff. Learn and then unlearn, just to learn some more. 

Each one has his own truth. But the truth is often relative and subject to turning redundant. So it is necessary to evolve, in thought as well as deeds.

Make friends with the enemy:

The Oven is the quintessential part of getting the baking right. So it is most important to understand how it works and then make friends with it. A badly-behaved oven can be the baker’s worst nightmare!

Man is a social animal and we need to have people around for survival. Hence, it is necessary to develop the art of getting along with all sorts of people. Specially, the ones you may not like and yet are part of your immediate environment. Each person has his own quirks and so do we. So get into the other’s shoes and do the walking, but don’t forget what you learn from it when you get back into your own!

Don’t give up:

Dealing with a new recipe can be a huge challenge. There is a big difference between reading it up and actually trying it out. A seasoned baker can also be a first-timer when it comes to a new recipe.

And so, to get through baking as well as life, back-pack a lot of patience.  The distance between the impossible and possible is Time and Relentless effort.

Top everything with a lot of Love:

One may have the ingredients and the equipment and a baker’s instinct. But all of this remains incomplete, till one gets it all together with a lot Love. A warm heart carries the comfort through the food to the one who eventually eats it. That marks the difference between a well-fed person and a well-fed, happy-at-heart person.

This obviously relates to every other activity of life. Love and Passion add the zing, the punch or the extra spark that can bring acceptance and success. Love can never go wrong!

Creativity:

Like any form of Art, baking is beautiful, constructive and immensely peaceful. It calls for concentration and silence. It is almost like meditation. This triggers creativity which can help conceive one’s own creation.

And as i continue to relish this newly found relationship with baking, i try and adapt the lessons i learn from it  to everything else that i do.

So each day now, i wake up wearing an imaginary chef’s hat, equip myself with patience and grit, plaster a smile on my face and get ready to cook up my idea of a perfect day!!