Hello!

I’ve decided it’s high time I start a cooking blog of my own. My name is, of course, Jacqui. I mean, it would be kind of weird if I called this Jacqui’s Cooking Adventures and then my name was really Carol or Michelle or something, right?

Quick background: I learned a lot of what I know about cooking and baking from my mother who has a natural cooking talent and is also educated in culinary arts. From the time I was a small baby, my mom would put me on the counter and let me watch her in the kitchen. I learned a lot from her but for much of my life I thought I hated to cook. When I got married, I realized I have a lot of knowledge of cooking techniques but not as much experience doing it myself so I ended up realizing that having experience is HUGE when it comes to whether or not a recipe is a disaster or a masterpiece, or somewhere in between. I need to put my knowledge into practice. The reason I’ve decided to start this cooking blog is because I have gained some experience but I am still quite the beginner at certain things, especially baking, which is what I’ll be focusing on for the beginning of the year, with cooking sprinkled in.

A couple of days ago I made my first strawberry supreme cake, a nice hot pink with lighter pink strawberries and cream frosting. It came out delicious, albeit a bit lumpy, as far as the frosting went but I have decided my goal is to bake at least 10 cakes this year. Or, maybe 12, since it is in fact 2012.

I’ve always felt bad that my baking skills are seriously lacking and I’ve heard from pros that the only way you can get batter, er, I mean BETTER, is to keep doing it and gain experience. Make a mistake? OK, now I now what not to do next time. Did something right? DO IT AGAIN!! You never know what you can do unless you TRY.

I’m going to bake a butter yellow cake tomorrow with cream cheese frosting and black icing for decoration, hopefully that will go well, I think I will try practicing on parchment paper while it’s baking, with the icing first to make sure I can do the design I want. I’m excited!