I think I prefer "blirthday"

It's the one year anniversary of The Baker's Nuts (the website you're currently reading). My blogiversary if you will. A year ago today I graced the internet with my presence; showcasing my culinary genius with a post titled: Plum Cake Disaster :).

The first line to my first recipe post is “Normally I don't experiment too much with the recipes I attempt, for the most part I don't feel I'm at the level to start messing around with things.” And when I look back at what I have accomplished since then, the statement couldn't be any farther from the truth. This blog has made me try new things and play with recipes in ways I didn't think I would, simply because I wanted some ownership of the recipes I was posting. I wanted my own tastes to come through not someone else's. I hope I have managed to accomplish this as well as provide some good recipes and something worth reading.

I've had two major passions in life; obviously baking is one, but when I was younger I loved to write, my dream was to be a novelist. Some of my earliest school memories are of writing and drawing story books filled with characters like “Super 7-UP” and “Robo-Slop.” As the years went on this passion began to waver, bogged down by homework and teenage angst. There were a few highlights in that time thanks to an amazing teacher who challenged us with a semester long creative writing assignment. For me it turned into an epic adventure spanning over sixty pages (that was a lot in high school :)). I'll never forget the praise she gave me. In fact I still have her comment sheet.

In university my writing slump peeked (there's an oxymoron). I tried. I wrote a few short stories (and I do mean “few”) as well as a bunch of short poems but creativity was stifled by essays, lack of time, motivation and inspiration. My desire to write something the length of a novel never materialized. I had a lot of plans including plot points, timelines, character maps, and I even managed to finish the prologue, yet was never able to get any further. After graduating from university, I took a post grad certificate in web development and never went back to writing.

My reason for telling you all this is that last year when I started this site it was the first time I had written anything since leaving university. This blog has given me an outlet to write about something I love. It's not fiction, it's not fact; it's not structured or free form. Sometimes its fun, sometimes its work. But I love it. It has helped me to grow as a baker, but also as a writer and has allowed me to create something that I think is uniquely "Adam."

Despite my self-deprecating humour I know that there are people who read my blog regularly. Some are family and friends, some are fellow bloggers (though far more talented than I) and some I don't know. Regardless of who they are or at what capacity they read, I appreciate their support. Even those people that only stop by because they googled “The Best Peanut Butter Cookies" (Note: They're still the best). I write because I love to write, and I bake because I love to bake; so I would do this even if no one was reading. But it's a great feeling to know that someone is paying attention. I thank you for that.

I have a few big personal changes in the upcoming months. No I'm not talking about new mixers and laptops (I bought a new laptop :)). In September not only are we moving offices at work (same people, same job, far less convenient building) but I am moving homes. You see, I bought a house. Back in January I went house hunting for the first time and somehow was signing papers the next day. I still can't believe it. In 38 days I will own a home. I will be a home owner. In January it seemed so far away and now it's almost here. I haven't seen the house yet. It has yet to be finished, but very soon I will baking in my very own kitchen. I have never been so full of excitement and anxiety at the same time. If posts become a little shorter or sporadic. It's not you, it's me and I'm likely between panic attacks :). For the first time in my life it'll be just me. Scary. I suddenly feel like an adult. When did that happen?

I can see that reading this has caused your eyes to glaze over (perhaps a vanilla) so let me bring this back to food. Since it's my anniversary weekend I decided that I was going to bake something special. Something that I really wanted and wouldn't normally bake. Something that was for me first and everyone else second. I made a cheesecake pie. And really it's only a pie because of it's size. And it was good. I haven't had cheesecake since my birthday last year and when I thought about baking one this weekend I began to crave it. Thankfully it turned out great (though not without the usual Adam twists). I'll have the recipe up later this week.

Thanks again for reading and welcome to year two :). As a warning, sequels are usually worse than the original :).

~Adam

P.S. You may have noticed that I have a twitter button. Yes, I have become twitterpated. I don't "tweet" a lot (yet) as I don't have many followers or a smart phone but feel free to follow me :). It's another way in which I can subject you to my eccentricities :)