Cooking and baking are my passions... my escape. I have been exposed to amazing skills since a young age; my mom is my kitchen inspiration. I was her sous chef growing up where she taught me all my basics - preparing veggies, peeling roasted garlic, never settling for shaker parmesan. I blame her for my high expectations for myself as every single thing she made was fantastic! Before I moved out, I could not leave until I had some of my favourite recipes of hers like roast beef, tomato and onion salad and numerous other (I actually made both of those tonight!) 

I started baking within the past couple years and have dabbled in cake decorating. I got a ton of inspiration from many cake-boss marathons. One night after a particularly inspiring episode, I spent probably close to 8 hours making fondant and baked a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. I draped it with fondant and created a bow along the base (I'll find the picture and post it later). It was so fun that I didn't even realize how long it had been. Another time I made chocolate cupcakes and covered them with pink fondant and piped little flowers on top. I had no idea what I was doing but I was experimenting and having fun and that's all that mattered to me! I made my mom's birthday cakes two years in a row. I'll post pictures for the first one later. I'm pretty happy with the way her cake this year turned out! It was my first stab at a multi tiered cake. I had just bought a Wilton class set not realizing that it didn't come with instructions for how to use the tools... It was fun figuring out how to make flowers and messing around with the tools! 

Baking is glorious. Cooking is fantastic. Mess around! Have fun! The more you do it, the easier it gets. Find inspiration whether it be a loved one, a TV show or a magazine article and do not be disappointed if it doesn't turn out perfectly the first time. Tweak it, add your own spin and perfect it in your own way. It makes life more interesting ;) 

Happy Baking and Merry Cooking!