I’ve never been a baker. I don’t particularly enjoy it. Much, much prefer cooking. I’m not a fan of all the measuring and not knowing if your final product will turn out until it comes out of the oven. I like to improvise as I go and while I understand that you can improvise in baking as well, I’m simply not proficient enough to do that. I also always feel uneasy mixing in copious amounts of butter and sugar into my food, even though I’m well aware that by BUYING and not homemaking my own baked goods, I’m consuming all that plus copious amounts of chemicals and other such healthy things anyway. I’m good at sticking my head in the sand and relishing in my tasty denial.

So I stick to cooking in the kitchen instead.

Until recently. I’ve been baking this past month more than I ever have before. And to my surprise, rather enjoying it. Hm. I think it has a lot to do with discovering healthy baking recipes that do not include copious amounts of butter or sugar–and that actually taste good! As in, they don’t taste like they’d be good for me at all.  And so I feel better about making and eating it. I think it’s also part and parcel of my newfound adventurous side of me. It started with the whole running thing, accomplishing things that I never believed I could do, thus leading me to wonder what else I could do that I never thought possible. It’s made me more open to new ideas, experiences, and possibilities. And it feels AMAZING. Like the world has expanded and its colours deepened.

But I digress. More on the whole running thing another time.

Baking. Right. Here I am, 11:30pm, I gotta be up in not too many hours from now for work, and I’ve just made a double batch of Mama Peas’ Energy Bars:

This time I included both raisins and craisins, chopped almonds, and equal parts peanut and almond butters. And I learned from various other recipes on the internet that you need to use wax or parchment paper to really press the mixture down into the pan so it doesn’t crumble easily (which is what happened last time I made these).

Much better texture. mmm Can’t wait to have one tomorrow.

Do you prefer baking or cooking or both?

In other news, it’s going to be a fun next few days with Len’s brother, Joe, in town. They are currently having a rousing game of Wii NHL:

Len: “Oooh, THAT’S how you shoot!”

And that’s a wrap, folks. Goodnight!