The baker's dozen.

I believe in baking therapy. It's not the healthiest of therapies, but it's part of what I like to call the "Turning of Negatives into Positives."

This being my first week of work, I felt necessary to make as many mistakes as possible. And because I don't know everyone well enough, I don't want them thinking that I am hopeless. Instead, I would like to think that if they choose to think me hopeless, let it be as a hopeless cause who makes damn good lemon bars.

One of the happiest days I had since moving here was when I finally unpacked my American cookbooks and baking bits. The swell of estrogen was probably so great it drove all talk of sports from the neighborhood for a good 5-10 seconds. Within my boxes were the histories of easy baking goodness, passed down, discovered, or dropped in by someone somewhere.

The best part about baking is rarely do you encounter great amounts of wrath for doing it. Most people are shocked or pleased, as baking is a sort of traditional thing that didn't go the way of the mailed letter or the rotary phone. One time between jobs I took up learning the art of the pie and would bring in samples to the bookstore I took a short job at. I can remember being grabbed in the hallway by one of the workers who kept going on and on about how great it is I'm bringing sweets in and that rarely do nice things just happen.

I guess then that's one of my things in life that I want to do, to make nice things happen. They don't happen often enough, you see.

So every time I think bad things are happening, or I'm having a rough go, I go about doing something positive. This inevitably means I will go from feeling crummy to feeling much better about myself. At the same time I'm making other people feel good too, so it's a winning situation.

Cookies, cakes, pies, and brownies - make them and nice things happen.