To some cooking is generally considered nothing more than a necessary process to sustain life. For two CHS students, however, cooking and baking has become a valuable part of their lives that holds an abundance of joy and treasured memories. For some baking was an acquired hobby; for others, the skill has been a family tradition.
“My mom always really liked cooking,” senior Grace Cohen said. “She would always make me dinner and I would help her. It was just a really fun activity for the two of us to do together. Now I’ll still bake her recipes and carry on that tradition.”
For junior Amanda Garrick, the love for baking was discovered later in her life.
“I started baking in the middle of the summer when I was in middle school,” Garrick said. “I was really bored because all of my friends were out of town and I decided I needed a new hobby. So I spent a lot of my time on websites that showed a lot of really beautiful baked goods. Eventually, I bought a book about cookie decorating and started baking.”
The plethora of baked goods and dishes that these two teen chefs are capable of preparing is certainly very unique. The two shared the best dishes they made.
“I made butterscotch toffee brownies,” Garrick said. “I made my own butterscotch for the icing and they were delicious. Taste-wise that’s the best thing I’ve ever made. I also decorate cookies because I’m a fan of royal icing. One time my cousin was having an ice-cream themed birthday party, so I took the invitation and made cookies with the photo from the invitation of a bowl with three scoops of ice cream. They were both beautiful and delicious.”
One’s religion is another motivation for cooking various dishes. However, Cohen prepares them with a unique twist.
“I went through this phase where I was cooking a lot of Chinese food,” Cohen said. “I made the best pork dumplings ever. But now that I’m into Judaism I can’t eat pork anymore. During Passover I made a chocolate and caramel covered matza and a special Passover cake that was flourless.”
Though these high-school students have managed to make cooking and baking a hobby of theirs, they do not look for future careers in the food industry.
“Baking is really more of a hobby,” Garrick said. “It relaxes me a lot, so it’s really more of a break from reality than anything else. I don’t think I’d want to make it into a job where I have actual responsibility.”
Cohen echoes Garrick’s feelings, yet does not give up hope for the future.
“I probably won’t do anything with it professionally and I’ll just keep cooking for my family,” Cohen said. “Though at some point, maybe after I retire, I was hoping to have my own bakery.”
Though cooking and baking can be seen as chores rather than hobbies to some people, the memories and joy one gets out of it, makes having this skill worthwhile.
“Cooking is a really good, if not vital, skill to have for the future,” Cohen said. “But it’s also just fun to see how the cooking evolves. There are so many different types of cooking, so there are endless possibilities. That’s what I really love about it.”