Midnight train to the kitchen

It is past midnight on Friday night. I could be and should be sound asleep, but instead I just finished baking up a storm. Why would any sane person be baking  close to midnight ? Maybe I should have not used the word sane in that sentence. But let me tell you what led to the baking, well besides the coffee that is.

Typically I leave work early on Fridays, because that is when I generally start baking for the farmers market during the summer. However,  now that the market is on hiatus, I try to enjoy my Fridays by meeting up with friends.

My plan for this Friday was, stay home do more research for my trip, book hotels etc.  But instead I decided to watch a movie a friend recommended to me.  He suggested that I watch the movie Chef. So I grab a bowl of popcorn and sat down to watch the movie.

As you can imagine it was about food and about a Chef (what gave that away). A few minutes into it, I was hooked on it. The plot and story line was pretty poor and very predictable, but it still had food and I was mesmerized by it all. Just watching the show inspired me, I wanted to go to the kitchen and cook a gourmet meal, but there was no way I was leaving the house to go buy necessary ingredients for that.

So instead I continued to watch the movie while my mind was churning with ideas the entire time. All I wanted to do was hit the pause button, head to the kitchen and start cooking. But instead I continued to toss popcorn into my mouth while the movie played on and I kept thinking about what chaos I could cause in the kitchen once I was done with the movie.

Considering how much I bake, I always have butter, sugar, flour,eggs, every type of chocolate chip and nuts on hand and anything else which is needed for baking. So the best I could come up with was brownies, but instead of baking it in a regular pan, I decided to make little brownie tarts.

As soon as the credits started to roll around  11 pm, I headed straight to the kitchen. I turn the oven on, hit play button on my music and started to sift, whisk and stir. The smell of chocolate emanates throughout the apartment, giving it such a warm and comforting feeling in the middle of the night.

There is no denying my passion for food, be it eating or cooking it, it is a huge part of my life and who I am. As much as the movie inspired me to go bake, I wish I could find the inspiration and courage to go open that Cafe/Patisserie I dream of day in day out. Maybe one day, there will be something or someone who not only inspires me but gives me the courage to take that risk and chase the biggest dream I have for myself.  Till then, I will take the little bouts of inspiration I get and use it in the kitchen to make and bake and learn to be a better baker.

I believe that my biggest challenge at this moment is overcoming the fear I have of change and fear of failure and the unknown.  But one day when the time is right, I have no doubt my love for food and for my dream will overcome my fear. Till then I will continue to bake/cook and be inspired and inspire others to think outside the brownie box.