Ever since I was a teen I have always loved baking. I guess it is in my blood since my grandfather owned a bakery for years. He retired before I was born, so I missed the opportunity to ever visit it.
When I was in high school, I was a wrestling cheerleader and we baked for the wrestlers. My brownies and banana bread were the most requested items. Since then, I have still baked. In college I learned that guys really liked freshly baked cookies and I think my roommates and I even got a couple of dates because of that. Once I got married, my husband and I had holiday parties and I would have a whole dessert table. In fact, when I got divorced and had to go back to work (after being a stay-at-home mom), I considered working at a bakery, but the hours were not flexible enough.
Recently though, I have had trouble baking. I am on some new allergy medication and I guess it has reduced my sense of smell and now I am burning everything. I did not realize how much baking is dependent on smell. I always wondered how people could say they are terrible bakers because they burn everything. I just assumed that they were just careless or could not follow a recipe. I have learned now that they probably do not have a very acute sense of smell. I thought all this time that baking was a skill that people had or didn't have, when in reality it is all in the nose. Now, I have to figure out how to get my sense of smell back without feeling miserable from allergies. Wish me luck.
This reminds me of an article I recently read about the sense-numbing effects of zinc nasal sprays like Zircam.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed myself that with zinc lozenges, they really dull your sense of taste and the effect can last for several hours. Turns out that for heavy users (like my brother, who I quickly cautioned) zinc's effect on the senses can be permanent!
I was not aware of that with the lozenges. I could never stand the taste of them, so I guess that worked out in my favor.
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