INSPIRE & GET INSPIRED

It is so great when you get a sign of what you have tried to do is working. I just had a few of those moments lately. Previous customers and friends from Beaches Bakeshop have been sending me pictures of them baking Swedish Cinnamon Buns at home after my recipe and instructions.

Baking is really a special thing. Baking and Cooking together is so great. It brings people together. Older, younger, strangers, old friends, men, women, different cultures and interests. We all need to eat and what could possibly interest us more than caring about what we put in our bodies. When you bake and cook from scratch you have total control. I remember Michael Pollan (an American journalist) once said "You can eat all the junk food you want, as long as you make it yourself". I think that is a great statement.
Of course, everything should be in moderation and a balanced lifestyle is always the best but no one is perfect and sometimes you just feel like something that's not the healthiest. Then it's great to know how to make that yourself because it will be way less unhealthy if you have cooked or baked it from scratch than it would have been if you bought it already made.

I have been teaching kids and adults to cook and bake for a long time. That's actually how I started Beaches Bakeshop. I did TASTE - BUDDIES after school cooking classes for kids 6 and up. Before starting Taste-Buddies I had been teaching Swedish Cooking to adults in Portland , OR while living there.

The satisfaction you get when a child tries something he or she has never tried before and says- Wow, that is yummy! At Taste-Buddies we used to call that "Waking Up Sleeping Tastebuds". You never know when those sleeping tastebuds will wake up. That's why you have to try new things and new flavours now and then. Even if you didn't like avocado as a kid, you might like it as a 21 year old! Your tastebuds mature without telling you....
Also, never call anyone a picky eater. I am certain, being named a picky eater will definitely make you one. Let everyone take part in the cooking. Plan it together, shop together and cook together. There is a task appropriate for everyone. Instead of telling the kids to leave the kitchen so you can cook dinner on your own, invite them in to the kitchen and cook together. I know, you want to do it fast and efficient and get dinner on the table quickly. If you get some healthy snack out and give everyone a task you are all together while getting dinner on the table! That way everyone will try what is put on the table as well. It is a win win thing!!