Creativity at Play

A "Yum"-clamation of my month of baking and cooking (so far) Hello everyone! Can you believe it's the end of January?!? I can't, it seems time has flown by while I've been busy baking, writing, learning and having fun. Keeping in mind that it has been a new project which has taken some creative thought to figure out what the actual project would look like, how long it would last and how many recipes to test but I've figured it out and the answer is however many I chose to do throughout the year as well. Sometimes though life or other commitments got in my way or you just need a break. To Review: I set out at the beginning of this month to tackle two recipes a month and for January I already have surpassed that- making a total of FIVE recipes (can you believe it!). Which when you look at January that's almost one recipe per week (AWESOME!) Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts, not quite like the original picture but good enough All in all, it ha...

The Recipe: Oatmeal Cookies (via: Pinterest.com, look under my board "baking recipes"  ( https://www.pinterest.com/pbutterfly234/baking-recipes/) When you are first starting out it can seem quite intimidating, and may take a lot of courage and practice before feeling competent in the kitchen. As with anything, there's much uncertainty in how it will come together, which is much like starting a new project for the first time. So a little faith can go a long way in helping keep a positive attitude . It does get more easier, and I've learned that the more you try out new techniques or re-attempt the recipes the more confident you'll get. It also takes a fair bit of patience and practice- patience in just waiting for the recipe/baking to be done; and practice in executing the experience itself. It may not be right away that you'll get it right, sometimes it can take 12 recipes/attempts for your baking to turn out picture perfect. (Hear that Kylie, have patience...

Insight Through a Workshop:  Motivating the Creative Mind, by MindShift Ninja. (Review to follow) Diving right into my theme of being creative and learning about it throughout the year I decided to checkout a workshop on the subject this past weekend.  With the year well into January and me into my Creative Challenge  both in reading/learning and doing it, it seemed like a great opportunity to hear a new perspective on the creative process, how it works and strategies to help us become more comfortable with it. After all, just as I have signed up to be open on trying different ways of creating it's just as fair to be open to different perspectives on how this process can work. Though I'll admit that I was hesitant at first to go, that perhaps could be explained in disbelief. A disbelief that I actually had the chance to say "yes" and go, that it seemed like some creative force or perhaps it was my own creative genius was pulling all the strings, making sure eve...

There is nothing better than the feeling of preparing your own meal for the first time. That sense of accomplishment when it is finished simmering, and baking, along with the pride that comes from saying "I made this myself." This which was once potatoes, leeks and water now is deliciousness, now is soup. This which is the feeling I want out of trying this crazy experiment for a month, and growing myself from a beginner baker to home cook and more experienced baker fuels my determination in taking on such a challenge. Along with pride, my new cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Loiusette Bertholle and perhaps some other inspiration, might just inspires this flourish of excitement in the kitchen rather than dread and intimidation. (See picture on the right) This is where I'll be keeping track of new recipe ideas to try, how I plan to maneuver them and the ones I've done- successes, failures and all but let...

An Introduction: So this year I've decided to explore creativity on my own with open arms and more in depth. Which means not only do I plan on just expanding it in my writing, but I'll try my best to learn more about it and actually experience some new ways of being creative . After all why limit myself to just 1 area when there's other to try out such as:   Baking,   Sketching,   Painting,   DIYing,  and many other fun crafts to try out there all creative and worth while.  So why be limited to just one? To begin with though, I'm starting with baking since I've tried it before which makes returning to it easier, this time though I'm adding cooking into the mix. There may be sometimes when it's just baking needed to be done while others like in the instances of making a meal can add several elements to be balanced out. My goal here is to familiarize myself in the kitchen with the hopes of it becoming less intimidating with ...