Canuckette's Passion

Hello Sweets,

I hope you all are having a relaxing Sunday :)  Did you do anything fun this weekend?  Maybe you baked a special little treat? I would love to hear from all of you.  Me, well today hasn't been too great, I feel pretty awful so I don't have the energy to whip up something creative in the kitchen (I know, no recipe I'm sorry :( ).  With my migraines sometimes it's best for me to take a break from the kitchen because I never know what sound, smell, or even temperature will make things even worse.  You would think after more than a year of this I would be used to it, but sadly no, I'm just as big of a suck now as when it all first started lol.

So I started thinking to myself, what should I write about today?  The idea was all too clear to me, why not write that post about passion I was going to do earlier this week!  This won't be a super long post, rather quick and to the point, but I really want to make sure I tell you guys what passion means to me, and what it has done for my life. 

Dictionary Reference website defines Passion as;

passion ~ noun

1.  any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

2.  strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor; lust.

4.  an instance or experience of strong love.

5.  a person toward whom one feels strong love.

6.  a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.

7.  the object of such a fondness or desire: Accuracy became a passion with him.

8.  an outburst of strong emotion or feeling: He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.

Now I removed a couple of points that referred to sexual desire, anger, and religious references because they were not applicable to my reference to passion, but you can find the complete definition through the link above :)

What I take away from this definition, and what I know applies to my passion for everything about being in a kitchen, is that I absolutely love creating and making food for others.  I can't even begin to explain the sheer emotional feeling I get inside when I see someone smile, or that they absolutely love what I have made for them.  I guess the closest I can describe it to is when I volunteer, for any organization, knowing that I can make even the smallest impact on someones life and be a little ray of sunshine for them.  It's that warm feeling you get when your with the ones you care about the most, laughing and smiling, being in that moment and not caring about anything else that is going on.  It's been this passion for baking, cooking, and blogging that has really helped me deal with all the stress of my illnesses and to have a sense of normalcy to my life, and even bring me back over to the happy side when I am feeling down.

When I am in the kitchen, I want to be there, actually I love being there, it makes me forget about all the other things going on in my life and I can just create and explore new things.  I can make mistakes and be okay with them,  or even laugh about them because it is all part of the experience for me.  I love trying new recipes and flavors.  I have that unmistakable desire of wanting to better myself at each task.  I take the utmost pride in what I create, and I put some much care into my work because I want to see people enjoying what I create for them.  I can get lost in the moment when I'm baking and cooking, and forget about everything else that is going on in the world.  Now I'm not perfect, nor do I claim to be.  I will have my moments where I can get frustrated when something is not going according to plan or even get overwhelmed (Nathan will tell you!), but there are definitely more smiles, laughs, and silliness that tend to take place in whatever kitchen I am in :p

For me, my passion is baking and cooking for others, almost nothing feels better then that.  It is something I've always loved; from helping my grandmother at Christmas (I started out on the cheese and veggie platters lol), to creating yummy treats so I can watch my cutie nephew Miguel dive right in, and most importantly learning to make the things that my wonderful other half loves :)  I mastered coconut meringue pie (find the recipe here) just for him, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it perfect, but I put even more love into it because I have this need to create and master.  The feeling of when what you are trying so hard for something, then it comes out exactly or even better than you planned, is beyond words.

Kid knows how to eat a cupcake lol!

He loves auntie Jemmy's Peanut butter chocolate chip banana muffins 

These are the things that make life worth while.  I do it all for the smiles :)  What are you most passionate about?  I would love to hear from all of you, anytime, so please feel free to contact me.  Now I am off to relax with my trusty ginger ale, one thing I always reach for when I'm sick :)

Until next time.......

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo