Kitchen Confidence: Baking

Cooking and experimenting in the kitchen is a great thing. Although, it makes sense that in order to experiment you have to fully grasp the concept of cooking first.  I can’t pinpoint a certain time or age when I started to fully understand cooking or felt “confident in the kitchen”, but I do believe it is all about getting stuck in. Don’t hold back and just push yourself that little bit further.. ideally in the direction of the kitchen. I can say that I used to be one of those people that would think cooking was too much hassle, time consuming and let’s be honest, was our parents job. But somewhere along the journey of maturity we set aside our fear and laziness to find our inner chef. Or just to scrounge for food because our parents weren’t at home to cook and we couldn't be bothered to leave the house. From then on.. Our culinary adventure begins..

Let’s start with Baking.. 

Most, if not all, of us will have the kitchen equipment we need to bake; including the ingredients. 

To be honest, all we need is a mixing bowl, mixing spoon / spatula, whisk, timer, measuring jug and scales.

Even the most basic of recipes for example, fairy cakes or muffins, the ingredients can be found in your average kitchen. You have flour, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla extract or cocoa powder, right? Then with a good fairy cake recipe.. (which you can easily find on the internet) You’re good to go! The challenging part or what requires more attention is following the recipe. I read in a cook book once that as long as you follow the recipe exactly the first time, the outcome will be exactly as it should be. Want to take it a level up? Add fruit, cream, icing, chocolate, nuts, whatever tickles your fancy (that you know tastes good)! Experiment with ingredients and you will be able to personalise that recipe, tailor-made to your taste.

Just remember: Baking is not complicated! You have all the tools you need..

It's time to empower yourself in the kitchen.

Until next time. Wendy x

What Wendy's House Is All About...

WELCOME TO THE WENDY HOUSE!

If anyone asked me a few years ago if I loved baking or cooking, I would probably raise an eyebrow, pull a weird face and shake my head. But over the past few years, my passion and love for baking/cooking has definitely returned or has been reignited, shall we say.  Through starting this blog, I hope to encourage more people to spend time in their kitchens and share my favourite recipes.

As a BBC (British Born Chinese), I’m pretty sure a LOT of people can relate and will have come from families that own a family business or work in the food industry. Because lets be honest, most Chinese people or Asians are known mainly through food/cooking which in fact has probably increased over the years due to the rise of takeaway’s or restaurants popularity.

I grew up in that environment, where my family owned a Chinese takeaway and food was basically everything we lived for, worked for and all I knew since I was four. I know what you’re thinking.. I mean who doesn’t love Chinese food, right? But sometimes when you’re surrounded by something every single day, it becomes rather annoying or suffocating even. But then again, I couldn’t prevent myself growing up with the influences of food and cooking, so you just gotta go with it I guess.

I remember my interest in cooking started when I began attending high school, Food Technology was the one subject I looked forward to and I think after the first few lessons (which the teacher taught us how to make bread, mine turned out quite unsuccessfully) I have never looked back since. Apart from the one time when my cooking partner & I’s Swiss roll set on fire in the oven, but that’s for another time.

Baking and cooking, requires a lot of practice, time and patience. There is so much that consumes our time everyday meaning we physically do not have the opportunity to indulge or experiment in the kitchen.  But I do have to say that once you’ve tried a recipe and made it correctly, looks amazing and tastes amazing.. you will naturally end up in the kitchen more and more.  Most of us, if not all, are NOT bad cooks.. Rather our busy schedules do not allow us that luxury to experiment and learn through trial and error.

First thing in cooking/baking I believe is….. It doesn’t matter whether you do or don’t have a passion for cooking or come from a food background.. MAKE TIME FOR YOUR KITCHEN!

The kitchen is a great place to make memories, not only food..

What brings people together you ask? FOOD! That’s what… And a whole lot of <3!

Thanks for reading.. Wendy x