I'm a fucking Domestic Goddess. People have been known to orgasm at my table, from just tasting my food. (And, no, that isn't an aphorism. My food is THAT good!)

My Man is also a good cook. He thinks he's better than I am, but not only am I better, I am more consistent, and nobody every cries at the table from too much hot peppers in their food when I cook. less

I like to cook, but I am not sure if I am a very good cook. My significant other is very nice and not very picky, so I don't really know how he feels about it. He says he'd rather eat the lunches I pack him over the food where he works (an upscale kind of grocery store with a good deli).

We eat almost vegan in this house and I make a lot of Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern foods. Healthy and interesting foods make us feel good and happiest, so our grocery bills have been going up a bit. But it is worth it.

I wish I could bake. I am terrible at it. It is alchemy too advanced for me. I can kind of make something decent from a box, though.

I loooove eating out. I have lunch out maybe twice a month, dinner once. My favorites are locally owned Thai, Lebanese and Indian restaurants. less

Alura, the thing about baking is that, as you said, the alchemy needs to be understood before you can play with it.

My advice (and my mother can't boil water, so I had to teach myself how to cook when I moved in with My Man many years ago) for baking is to get a GOOD basic baking book. Something like The Fannie Farmer Baking Book or The Joy of Cooking and follow the simple baking recipes first, ONE STEP AT A TIME. Don't vary anything, as the chemistry and physics of baking is more complicated than regular cooking. Do this for about 3 months, at least every other day or so, and you'll get the idea of how to bake well. THEN you can attempt more advanced recipes and change SOME things (but not the leavening, starch, egg, fat ratios unless you really learn how to do it) around.

I did this, and became a fantastic baker. All learned on my own, from books. It takes some times, and carefully reading the recipes all the way through TWICE before you even take the flour out of the cabinet. I found this the best method, especially if you don't have someone to teach you and are on your own.

Good luck. less

I'm a trained pastry chef that specializes in breads. I can do cakes but it's not my true love. Ah man, give me a good loaf of bread any day and I am a happy girl. I can see how bread is seen as a religious item, you take very basic items and with it create a whole new item. You bring yeast back from (near)dead and it brings life to your work.

I've found that as much as I love bread there is not a huge out cry for it since most people see happy with white bread. So I'm studying more and more of cakes and other pastries. I hope some day to have a bar that serves fruity drinks and cupcakes as a place where women can come to relax after a long day and unwind. less

I love baking bread! There are a lot of Artisan Bread Shops where I live (suburb outside Chicago) so there is a lot of work for bread/pastry chefs, I think. Sub sandwiches are big in Chicago, and every other store has their own bread. Even our grocery store has an Artisan Bread Bakery. It's such a simple, beautiful, fulfilling food. It's sad the people in your area don't appreciate it. I buy yeast in the BIG jar!

I also love cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, egg puff (Popovers, German Pancakes, Yorkshire Pudding etc.) And that stuff that you cook the eggs and the butter and the flour in a pan, and then pipe it into cream puffs or eclairs. Why can't I think of what that is called. Everybody eats my cream puffs before I even get to fill them.

Keep up the good baking. less

Oooh, pate choux, I love making cream puffs and eclairs. I normally make a full size batch and freeze them so I can use the shells when I need to.

There's a growing trend in the area of artisan breads, but it's easily over powered with the half dozen cupcake only bakeries. Don't get me wrong, I love a cupcake as much as the next girl, but what a cheap excuse for a bakery, only cupcakes? What about a lovely fruit tart so I can lie to myself and say "see, there's fruit on it, it must be healthy!" or other lovely pastries? Not to mention it's like 2/3's frosting on all these cupcakes, too much sweet for me. less