I’ve never been the domestic sort. Before I quit my job, I couldn’t cook, and why bake when I can buy cakes and bread easily from the many bakeries around my neighbourhood.

Five years after I became a full time home maker, I could cook a simple meal (with liberal use of seasonings, I have to add 🤣) and I also learned to bake, not because I enjoyed it but I rather have my kids eat my homemade cookies than the more unhealthy version found in the supermarkets. I find baking easy and difficult at the same time. Easy because we can just follow the recipe, difficult because you have to be more careful than cooking during its execution. For e.g. I can try to salvage a badly turned out dish but I can’t do that with cookies and especially with cakes (or maybe I’m still a noob).

During the COVID lockdown, I tried a few baking recipes to occupy myself from going crazy. Some are duds, some are just ok, but I found this one cookie recipe that hit the right note with family and friends. And people like it enough that now I even manage to sell a few bottles of it for the upcoming Lunar New Year. While the extra income is welcomed, nothing beats the feeling that someone finds your cookies delicious enough for them to pay for it. For someone who thinks that people are just being nice when they ate my cookies, that sense of accomplishment is indescribable.

Love, February