6. Feeding People

(Yes, that is a real cake, and yes, I did make it)
I know I talked about this in #3, but I love feeding people. There’s just something wonderful about working hard to create something that will make people happy, and nothing makes people happy the same way as good food does. Food can be a work of art. It can be beautiful, it can smell amazing, it can taste fantastic, it can have wonderful contrasting and harmonious textures, there are so many possibilities. It’s so good to be appreciated. I often feel like it doesn’t matter if I’m here or not, that nothing would really change if I was somewhere else, but when I feed people I know that people are glad I’m there. I think that’s why I have a hard time cooking for myself, I would eat whether I cook something really good or not, as long as I have food I’ll survive. But I LOVE to cook, to experiment, to try new things and try to improve old and familiar recipes.
Tonight I made an apple strudel to take to an activity. There wasn’t a single crumb left at the end of the evening. Everyone liked it, appreciated it, and enjoyed the experience of eating it. It was a wonderful thing to know that they were grateful I had come in a very tangible way. I’m sure they would have liked having me there even if I hadn’t brought food, but I was able to contribute something no one else could. As I told a friend my goal in life is to make other women look bad and be Betty Crocker, June Cleaver, and Martha Stewart all rolled into one. That’s not quite true, my goal is to not have a fat husband (I really think telling me my husband will be fat is an odd way to try and compliment my cooking.) Just kidding (kind of) my real goal is to be happy, and feeding people makes me happy.