it's my biggest wish

I love baking for people. It was something I started a few years ago. I was never much of a baker, my cakes and cookies would somehow turn out gooey in the middle yet completely burnt on the bottom. When you're not good at something, you tend to give it up.

I poured my heart into it, and slowly I developed the baker's knack. The knack for altering recipes if something doesn't seem quite right, a knack for decorating, and more importantly I reached a truce with my oven when it stopped ruining my delicious endeavours.

Baking slowly started to make me very zen. There's something lovely about mushy butter and bright colours for frosting, about the whir of an electric mixer and licking the wooden spoon. Something about the smell of cookies or cakes in your house. About meticulously placing eery sprinkle and non-pareil so that it looks just perfect. I've never been a good artist, but decorating the treats is my favourite part.

I love giving them to people, too. It gets to a point where I just have far too many cupcakes and cookies lining my counters--more than I could ever dream of eating. When I used to travel with the boys on the team, I'd bring them all of my baked goods and they'd annihilate everything in 30 seconds flat. They'd get buttercream all over their silk ties and have chocolate smudged on their noses, but it made them so happy. It's what earned me the affectionate "Cookie" nickname. They all swear that my chocolate chip delights are the best.

I still pop in to practice every now and then and drop off some boxes of treats. I love the look on their faces and their groans of approval. One particular player was recovering from shoulder surgery when we visited him in the hospital. When the nurse had left, I gently pushed a single chocolate cupcake with raspberry buttercream into his hand. He bit into it and swore it was the best thing he had ever tasted. Moments like that make me happy.

If I didn't have a career goal set in stone, I'd open up my own bakery. I am completely blissful when covered in flour and concentrating intently on tinting the frosting to just the right colour. It makes me zen. I've been known to spend entire days in the kitchen, spending hours alone on decorating a mere dozen cupcakes. I'd open up a chocolatier and pastry shop, all in one. I love making my own chocolate truffles and chocolate cake and turnovers and it would just be so joyous.

I could spend hours in bakeries. Because of my insatiable sweet tooth, I try not to for obvious reasons. But I love ogling the bright pastel colours of crisp Macarons, or wanting to lightly squeeze a dense chocolate brownie to judge the degree of squishy. I love staring at decorated cakes and smelling the butter chocolatines.

It's all so wonderfully decadent.