A favorite hobby of mine

Now that I'm out of the dorms and in an apartment, I have the luxury of a kitchen!  Cooking for myself is so much better than cafeteria food.  Sure the meal plan is convenient, but I much prefer making my meals.  Aside from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the most fun in a kitchen for me is when I'm baking.  I haven't had the chance yet in my apartment since starting school, and tonight I'll finally get my baking fix!

Baked goods not only taste great, they're my way of showing people I care.  I'd say four out of five times I bake it's with the intention of giving it to someone.  One of the reasons I do this is for birthdays.  I never want a birthday to go unnoticed.  When I was growing up, my birthday ALWAYS fell on my school district's "mid winter break".  That one week always contained my birthday.  People would remark, "Meagan, why would you ever want your birthday on a school day?  You get a day free from classes instead of having to sit through them!".  A valid argument, but here is my rebuttal: since my birthday didn't take place on a school day, it wasn't paid attention to by my peers.  My friends would say, "Oh your birthday is in February right?"  Yeah, that leaves a month of 28/29 days of possibility, not so narrow.  And in my middle and high school years, it was typical for everyone to know it was your birthday because you would have your locker decorated by your friends, and balloons, flowers, cards, or treats given to you.  Some of your classes may sing to you as well.  While some found this embarrasing, I never got that recognition.  So, birthdays always mean baking for me.

Other occasions are cause for baking as well, like accomplishments.  Got a new job?  You get brownies!  We survived finals?  Cookies for everyone!  I can make anything into a celebration; my senior year in high school my friends and I ate on campus and at the end of each week we would rotate baking to have "Cake Day Fridays".  Anyways, baking is a favorite hobby of mine.  While I've been worn out with work and school, I have been sleeping and watching TV with my free time instead.  Baking is a productive use of time, you create something!  And that something is delicious!  So, tonight I'll be in baking mode, it is long overdue!