Inside Gigi's World

It has been a big day around here. Actually, when I say out loud all of the things that occurred today that made me a little giddy I think there probably isn’t really anything that extraordinary but I have been working really hard to find joy in the little things around me so I guess it is a small victory.

Anyone who knows me, you know I love binge watching shows. My sole purpose for joining the Netflix era was for the single purpose of wanting to binge watch “Grace & Frankie” and it did not disappoint. If I am being honest, I aspire to be just like Frankie when I grow up! If you haven’t watched it yet I suggest that you do.

I have been waiting for something like Netflix and Hulu my whole life, I can skip around, not be interrupted by 45 minutes worth of commercials for a 60 minute show and the fact that I can find almost all of my favorite television shows from my youth has me to the point that I can’t even remember the last time I watched cable. I would get rid of cable all together if the humans I lived with didn’t live off of ESPN and NESN.

Right now myself and my youngest human are watching “Queer Eye” on Netflix. As cheesy as it sounds I have never found more inspiration, good ideas and great story lines from a show and I love it!!

I have always hated cooking. The dishes. The mess. Preparing something that everyone just expects and takes forever to make to be gone so quickly. Did I mention the damn dishes?

We didn’t bake when I was growing up, it wasn’t one of my Mom’s things and I get it. She worked full time and had a house to take care of, it wasn’t high on the priority list. I was that kid who brought paper plates, plastic cups and chips to the school for the Christmas party when I was a kid. She used to say if God wanted her to bake Betty Crocker would have never been invented.

Once J. got old enough she took on the reins of baking. Nothing too fancy, usually box stuff and then she started watching baking shows and learned about fondant. One time in Walmart, when she was about 4, we got in to an all out argument because she needed fondant for her cupcakes for her dance class Halloween party. She insisted she needed to make eyeballs and spiders with them which she learned from watching some t.v show. I thought it was word she made up, I had no idea what she was talking about until the stock man working started laughing and told me what isle it was down. She put her sassy four year old hand on her hip and said “told ya Ma”. She eventually upgraded to Kara’s (one of my best humans) homemade frosting and she has harassed her every single time she has needed frosting since.

While watching “Queer Eye” I have found a new appreciation for cooking. Antoni (One of the Fab 5) pretty much said that cooking should be an expression of love, it creates memories. So I started to think about that. Every significant moment and milestone there has been food. Easter dinner at my Aunt Kris and Uncle Tom’s house. Christmas Eve dinner at my Aunt Candy and Uncle Jon’s and how he’d always get upset because I would sit around the shrimp and eat it all before anyone else could get some, walking in and the house smelling of Uncle Jon’s homemade horseradish and how it burned your eyes or his homemade raspberry pie from the raspberries that we pick right in their back yard, still to this day. I did it with my mom and now I do it with my humans. Mem’s meat pie or how, no matter how hot it was, you’d walk into her kitchen and there would be something cooking. My Gramma June’s mac and cheese and how she would make it for me every Christmas dinner and Grandpa Iggy’s chop suey, that I still make to this day and whenever I do I think of him and smile. All the holidays, weddings, graduations, births and baby showers, christenings, all celebrations surrounded by food. So after thinking about this I decided I wanted that for my little humans. I want J. to remember flour messes in the kitchen and although R. is the pickiest eater you will ever meet, literally, he eats nothing that isn’t pizza, fried, Doritos or steak, I am hopeful someday he may have little humans that may want to help me in the kitchen too.

So yesterday I bit the bullet and bought myself and J. a big purchase. I got us a Kitchen Aid mixer. She was so excited!

I researched countless recipes and once I finally found one that seemed like somewhat of a beginners recipe, I made a list of supplies, went to Walmart, stood in the baking isle for what seemed like 20 days, picking, ever so carefully what I thought the best supplies were and made my way home feeling like I just did a HUGE adult thing.

We decided on vanilla cupcakes with buttercream orange flavored frosting that she had to turn pink with food coloring. Both from scratch.

We only had confection sugar explode on us twice while putting it into the mixer and she only tried to stick her finger in the bowl once while the mixer was still on.

Our cupcakes actually looked like cupcakes and our frosting didn’t even taste like butter, it actually tasted like frosting.

The husband even said it was one of the best cupcakes he has ever had!

So I think it was a success.

Another thing I learned from watching “Queer Eye” is that food looks more pleasant when plated on a white dish. I have been playing with that.

I probably should have taken a picture of the cupcakes, as great as they tasted was just as how not pretty they looked!

Next purchase you ask, piping bags!

In other big news, we have 2 baby tomatoes finally growing! We can’t wait for stuff to start growing so we can start using that to cook as with too!!

What are some of your favorite deserts?