Trading Wheelchairs for Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Deciding to pursue a life in the kitchen instead of promoting myself in healthcare was not easy.  As an Occupational Therapist with a good job and paycheck, I should be settled and satisfied. But I’m not.  For years, I’ve had nagging thoughts that I should study and learn more about cooking and baking.

My work with patients in skilled nursing facilities for the past 15 years has me facing the reality that life is short and unpredictable.  I couldn’t ignore the fact that I’m getting older and my life was becoming a little less fun. I finally gave in to my “should have, could have, and would haves” and enrolled myself in a Culinary Arts program.

Cooking savory food with it’s sizzles, pan tossing, pots clanging and banging, and knives chopping on boards make me feel alive!  However, during our classes, I learned that savory food wasn’t very challenging for me.  Now, pastry and baking?  That’s another story. All the measurements, flour this, sugar that, an ounce of this and a drop of that was all uncharted territory. I’ve found my challenge.  How can I make this beautiful craft of measured science my own?  Let’s find out.

I wonder where my culinary dreams will take me.  Maybe when I’m done chasing the dream, I come back to life and reality with my tail between my legs. Who knows?  The only thing I’m sure of right now, when I’m rushing to grab an ingredient from a cart or slicing fruit so thin it’s almost paper or burning my fingertips and cursing like a sailor over molten sugar, is that I’m having the time of my life.  I’m exactly where I want to be.

• Sugar and ground cinnamon according to taste
• Sugar glaze – mix confectioner’s sugar with milk according to desired consistency
• Simple Maple Glaze as seen here