“This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook- try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” – Julia Child

I was so happy when I was finally able to purchase the farm table that I had been wanting for years from an expensive cooking catalog.  The thick slab of white and grey veined marble had me envisioning my cooking skills being elevated to the realms of my grandmother, who was known for her cooking and baking skills.  Yes, this table would transport me to where I would channel “la famiglia” and create delicious treats.  I would begin with Easter bread, one of our favorite family traditions.  When my first attempt at making “the well” of flour filled with eggs resulted in eggs finding a vulnerability in the flour wall and making their way to my floor; I knew a table does not a cook make.  My panicked call to my mother went from California to Ohio and my questioning the procedure with “the well” was met with “Michelle, just use a big bowl so you don’t waste another dozen eggs”.

I kept at it and for years have enjoyed preparing and baking Easter bread, however as the years have passed, getting up early for the all-day marathon of bread baking was losing its appeal. The recipe was for several loaves of bread.  I went searching on line and found a recipe that seemed to be very similar to the ingredients in my grandmother’s recipe but instead of waiting all day for the dough to rise, you could let rise overnight.  I decided to give it a try and although I felt a little  disloyal, convenience won out and we all loved this new recipe.

Some things will never change. I still make Easter bread on the Thursday before Easter decorating it with light green icing and multi-colored nonpareils, just like grandmas but, eliminating the getting up before dawn and waiting until dark to get the loaves finished is guilt that I can live with.

Nursing Notes:

For those of you that want to try new things and are concerned about completely leaving the terra firma of the hospital setting, try straddling.  That is, leave one foot where you are comfortable and placing another in a setting you would like to try.  Learn what you could do hourly or even part- time in the setting that holds your interest and is possibly a future road you may want to take.