Saturday, November 1, 2008

Baking with LOVE

When I was growing up I would hear family members ask my grandmother what her secret was for her delicious meals and she would always say " Lo Hice con mucho amor" (I made it with much LOVE).  When we would tell our mom how much we liked a dish she would also say "it's because I did it with LOVE".  I was recently watching "Good Eats" on the Food Network and the host was discussing how making a meal with "Love" could actually improve how it tastes.  He went on to talk about how small restaurants get to know their customers like family making the meals taste better. He mentioned how we loose the "Love" ingredient with fast food and restaurants.  I believe it could be the "process" of making a meal for a loved one where you take great care in every step.  As my BF said, you can take PRIDE in your work as a cook, chef, baker which will produce a high quality product. But you need to know and care about the people you are cooking for to add the magic ingredient of LOVE.  I believe in energy and know that your thoughts and intentions actually affect atoms in yourself, others and thus food.  Baking for me is the way I express to those I care about how much I love them. Baking is my LANGUAGE of love.  The energy and time it takes to bake is  giving of myself to tell you how much you mean to me.  I use only the best ingredients because I know it is for a loved one. Ideally we (I) should feel this way for all of humanity. I'm not there yet. This is why I have such a hard time when people ask me to bake for $.  How much do you charge for the Love and Care you put into each baked item.  The other day my mom said the Fig-walnut bread was so great she thought I should sell it at a farmer's market. She asked me how much I would charge per loaf. It was hard to imagine going through all that "work" for strangers. I said $100 for 2 loaves.  My dream has always been to open up my own Patisserie. I wonder how this year will impact that dream. Maybe My dream is to just bake for those I love. Maybe my Dream is to Love all whom I Bake for. 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hay!

I came across your blog by total accident and I don't even bake, but I did like what you said about making things with love so I thought I'd share my experience with it.

I'm a designer and an artist and a little over a year ago I opened an Etsy store. Before that, if someone would ask me to price a painting or a drawing I would say 300$ or a 1,000$ cause the notion of actually making money of selling art seem to be like a one of chance. When I started selling on Etsy, I actually priced myself so so much lower then that, it took time and confidence to raise my prices, but in a little over a year, making art and making money became from a far of dream to a day to day reality.

I'm not getting rich, I'm not even paying all my bills and rent with art yet, but I did made about 8,000$ this year from art and craft sale. I hope next year would be even better!

I really recommend Etsy as a venue for selling any type of stuff that has love as one of it's ingredient, just to build confidence and get a sense of building a business. I know some people who sale baked goods and candy over there and do pretty good.