Baking (Part 1) – How hard could this be?

After viewing these adorable gingerbread houses on a blog I frequent I got a bee in my bonnet - I wanted these mug hugging gingerbread houses! I asked T-Bone, Bookie, and The Kid if they baked and I got No’s all around. I then reached out to my Facebook community and just like my cry for help with the AC removal; I was greeted with utter silence. So not to be thwarted by others’ lack of culinary competence last Friday afternoon I scoured the web for baking suppliers, placed a Fresh Direct order (turns out the only ingredient I owned was flour) and cleared my weekend schedule for bakefest 2009.

With warnings of a major blizzard blaring from Weekend Today’s weather center I was up and out early Saturday morning on the hunt for all my baking supplies (cutter, rolling pin, parchment paper, sifter, etc……). Lucky for me I have a custom bakery supply shop just 8 blocks down from my apartment, really? Yes really. After a quick walk down Queens Blvd. under the ominous gray sky then up again to the 99 cent shop my list of needs was fulfilled and I was home and cozy by 11am.

If there are two things I have learned from my Mom is ONE - you can never set your table too early (in the Lewis household that window is 24-36 hours in advance of the first dinner guest) and TWO – when cooking anything you should set up everything you may need during the process (utensils, ingredients, bowls, etc…) at least 2 – 3 hours prior to the cooking event. Thanks to my inherited (learned?) obsessive cooking regimen I quickly discovered that I DID NOT own cinnamon, a major ingredient in my gingerbread recipe. So on with the coat, back out into the storm in search of the Queens spice trade.

Happy Holidays

Holiday are happy and since I am known for my sugary gooberness I embrace this time of year with the exuberance it so deserves. However what usually compels me into total BahHum Bugness is the forced participation (actually in my case the forced planning and hosting) of the mandatory office Christmas Party (let’s not fool anybody, it is NEVER a HOLIDAY party, it is a CHRISTMAS party). I despise the office Christmas party, the Secret Santa, the obligatory socializing with people whom I only tolerate 40+ hours a week because my checking account smiles every Thursday and the fact that most of the people who attend the office party sulk around griping about the lame assness of the music, the lack of alcoholic beverages or the lack of THEIR favorite alcoholic beverage – which of course is also the BEST beverage, or a multitude of other issues that they deem worthy of an “eye roll” and a loud lengthy “ughhhhhhh...sighhh”. But this year as you all may know my job ROCKS it! Yep this is the first year since 1994 that I have been totally jazzed to spend the holiday season with my office mates who are the perfect combo of holiday spirit and apathy.

We began our office holiday festivities on the day of the Rock Center Tree lighting by dimming our overhead lights, blasting “Oh Tannenbaum” while T-Bone threw the switches on our desk top neon Xmas trees – after that we were in full holiday mode (silently of course, we do have to side with decorum).