Baking Lessons

S, a good friend from work, and I started on our baking lessons today. Having joked about digging out the home economics aprons from our secondary school days and donning high chef hats to impress our classmates, we were disappointed to realise that there will not be any hands-on sessions for this course. Disregarding the impossibility of getting your money's worth while paying pittance for anything on this island and the need to complain about the increased prices in flour (highly relevant to us for the weeks to come), it was a pleasure to find ourselves in the company of an entertaining and competent teacher, and - surprise surprise - friendly classmates who say hellos warmly and let you copy notes you missed out on.

Baking, we've realised, is an expensive hobby/skill. The ingredients do not come cheap and my, what numerous tools you need - the bread knife, the spreader, the turn table, the oven (Baby Belling! Baby Belling!), the mixer (KitchenAid! KitchenAid!) etc etc. Talk about poor timing and a poorer pocket. I have them both!

Well... maybe we do not need the turn table and the mixer just as yet, but - get ready for this - S does not own an oven and neither do I. Joe and I did not have an oven built-in at the new place, for we prefer to keep the kitchen bright and uncluttered (reason no. 1). While we have bought a simple microwave for his instant noodles, I had refused to get a microwave-cum-convection oven which I biasedly feel that is simply not pro enough (reason no. 2). I have also been unsuccesful in convincing him that I am genuinely interested in becoming the Nigella Lawson of his household and to achieve that aim, I would need a proper oven NOW (uhm, real reason).

Anyhow, life always has its backup plans, mostly in the form of a mother with great foresight and invaluable experience. Turns out that the chinese frying wok that mommy dearest bought comes with a roasting cover that allows temperature settings and timer - perfect for my impending baking experiments. A wok that bakes! Wondrous combination if you'd ask me. I have strong faith that the adaptation is going to work out just fine. Let's hope that we don't have to wait too long to find out if it actually does.