Daring baker or Cowering fool?

I learnt to cook out of sheer necessity when I moved two continents away from where I call home to pursue higher education. At first, I only cooked to nourish myself and because the McDonald's dollar menu was missing more of those green leafys my mother insisted I have. I had a store-cupboard full of spices my sweet ma lovingly packed for me to take with me to new lands. Sadly, all I could do those first few months, was stare back and hope that the spices would magically unite to produce the aromatic chicken curry draped with the juicy onions and sweet tomatoes that I had come to enjoy back home. You could say this was my faith moment when all I was doing was looking up to the sky for an equivalent of a manna miracle, except the food would already be cooked and ready to serve at my tiny dinner table and I wouldn't have to run after quails.

Alas, I was not intended to receive that miracle instead grudginly made to start feeding myself with the fruits of my own labor. Quite literally that was all i ate those first few months after my brief affair with Mr. McDonalds and his greasy cheeseburgers.

Thus began my culinary adventure seven years ago - and when I say adventure I mean mini-fires, blaring smoke detectors, dragging a 16lb turkey across the carpet because it kept slipping off my hand, underestimating the power of one serrano pepper, and scrambled eggs swimming in turmeric powder.

Mercifully, somewhere along the way I discovered the joy of cooking for one and soon the joys of sharing the edibles with many. What started off as a tedious task had developed into a passive obsession - gluttony for all things edible, some may even call it gastronomic porn(which I consider the good kind). I can read and immerse myself in the same cookbook and not notice when dawn turns to dusk. If the food stylist has done a very good job of making me covet that sweet summery strawberry shortcake from its pages, then consider me a goner for the next hour or two.



From the joys of cooking emerged the joys of baking and since then, my love for white clouds of heavy cream, pale soft butter and pools of liquid gold,my eternal favorite, dark chocolate.
My greedy passion needs to be fed on a regular basis. I have searched high and lo for a baking group in my quiet town but have been completely unsuccessful. So today I joined the membership of several avid and daring bakers at http://thedaringkitchen.com where each month a secret recipe will be revealed and like others I will attempt to produce the desired baked good no matter how daunting the task or the ingredient may be. For anyone who knows me, this new ambition will come as a surprise because:
I am a creature that lacks discipline - I am and forever will be a woman who does not adhere to a list, a timeline or a game plan. I revel in my boundary-less, spontaneity so this having to follow the instructions and make the secret recipe within the 3 weeks come life or death will take the utmost discipline. This will be my do or die moment - my crowning glory (ahh I feel like the victor in one of the war scenes from the movie Braveheart). Ahh the theatrics of it all.

I intend to share a vivid description of my brief union with this secret recipe and the prognosis thereafter.At the very least, I hope to make a daring friend or two, hone my baking skills and in the absence of an audience, play cheerleader to myself as I press on towards achieving that perfect buttery scone.

Owing to my creative shortcomings when it comes to creating magic from behind a lense, I have entrusted A.F with the task of capturing my baked beauties in a way that will evoke utter speechlessness - either sheer amazement or mind-numbing horror. Brace yourself my lovely- for come September I will be back to chronicle the baking adventures of this singleton.