Baking is Poetry 401

What is Baking mean to You? Here is a poem I just jotted down in an effort to get back to food blogging again.  I want to hear from my readers --- is baking a smell, a sight or sound? A memory?

Baking

It is patience

It is understanding 

the
ebb
and
flow 

 Of ingredients
Of Environmental factors 

It is flirting

with formulations

to achieve

the ultimate

in taste combination -

Whether 

that result achieved

is

simplistic

or 

quite complicated.

Baking is 

the warmth of a stack oven
Of the freshly
de-panned product.

Baking is

 the satisfaction
Of creation.
 Of the tears 

which 

well in their eyes

when a taste, a smell

invokes 

memories
of home,

Of a loved one

that 

has
passed on.

Baking is
the alcoholic fumes

permeating

from a container

that
housed 

your starter -

your poolish -

your biga -

or 

your mix.

Baking is intoxication.

 Amber ©2010. All Rights Reserved

I also experimented with a new add-on  for GIMP called "Polar Inversion" - so I used it on the pic below. I think it encapsulates production quite well, you know, the total process seems full circle.

Directory Of Poetry 24

This is a listing of all my poetry. These poems are all original, written by me at different times within the last 15 years. The food poems are the most recent. Please read them and if you enjoyed them - please comment. Your comments encourage me to keep creating.

This page will continue to be updated with new poems added.

• Baking is Poetry
• Chef
• Spun Sugar
• Dessert Plating
• Cyber World
• Bonds
• The Long Ferment
• Entertaining Glances
• Once The Whistle Blows
• Autumn's Curse
  
• Ice
• Phlebotomy
• These Soulless Times!
• Grandfather
• Death of a Flower
• Fallen & Forelorn
• Lost In The '90's
• Senior Citizen
• To the Survivors
• Lonely asphalt
• Truck Stop
  

These poems are NOT to be reproduced in any form - without my permission in writing.
Thanks,

Saterday Soul Search : Food Poetry 21

In my hopes to re-ignite my poetry writing, I try to find food pictures that will inspire me - then in a creative burst, I try to write out the thoughts that come to mind and type them out immediately. Here are some of my plated desserts shots and the words that became of them...

Sugar fired ---
extreme degrees render your cube like structure molten.

How you boil into a yellow frenzy ---
Scorching, throwing your strand like tentacles
grasping and attaching

your hot intensity
slips quietly into a more permanent existence ---
Hardening , your exterior smooth,
yet fragile in
your mock
glass sheen.

Related Posts:

• Soul Search : Saturday Food Poetry
• Poetry of Baking
• Poetry : The Long Ferment

On Taste Memories and The Economy 2

When I experience something of taste worth noting, I archive it within the catacombs of my taste memories. There it is tagged and filed away - until there is new life breathed into it again, on some chance encounter with my taste buds.

My palate has slowly matured. I wasn't always one to remark on how great a microbrew was. But now I appreciate the bold, earthy and spicy undertones contained in the hoppy liquid. I appreciate the complexities of each type of brew. And every now and again these same taste memories resurface like amber ghosts haunting me with unequaled sweetness. I begin to ache for another chance - another dance with this foamy goodness.

My palate of course has not singled out microbrews exclusively, in it's maturity. I have taken on all types of complex tastes and textures not attractive to me in my younger years. This point is my life is very enlightening and I have entered a culinary awareness that rivals anything else I have experienced.

As humans we are drawn toward things we have noted in our brains - things which have left a good impression on our psyche. We cherish the taste memories stored there. And in bad times or discontent we call upon them again to boost our spirits, to remind us of comfort and joy.

A persons palate can only exceed his grasp, and for me living on a family budget means that not all my culinary whims are satisfied. For people who are also attending school this can mean even more cost saving measures. And as the economy becomes more and more disheveled, many of our budgets will continue to grow tighter.

This is a hard reality for me as a food blogger. Mainly from two different perspectives A.) I love food and I am very passionate about the actions leading up to the final product - it pains me to not be able to create more artistic creations at home, due to cost restrictions. B.) Once your blog enters the realm of "foodie-o-sphere" there is an unwritten expectation from readers and foodie peers to create and post pictures of your latest food masterpieces. Also I am unable to participate in all the food community challenges, which leaves me feeling isolated from my foodie peers.

The cost aspect that doesn't affect me however , is that I am not worried about having "trendy" kitchen gadgetry or appliances, I have always been thrifty in that way. I love to thrift shop for tools. I have found high end tools for a few dollars a piece. It is a great feeling to find a $60 tool for that price. The great thing about thrift stores is that people donate kitchen ware they bought on a whim / got as a gift , and never used. So most things are in great shape. I have a source that restaurants donate to, so you get high quality stock pots and stainless tools.

Soul Search : Saturday Food Poetry 15

In an effort to reawaken my poetry writing, I will be featuring a food photo that inspires me, then let the words that stem from that image fall onto the page. Enjoy! Comments welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks ericmcgregor for use of this photo.

Muscular and artistic hands -
weaving the magic we call presentation.

I see the art,
fashioned of edible sculpture.

Your formulations
are
the
holy scripture.

you are profit of the palate,
to
your
unwavering congregation.

cutouts of cake, bases;
the pulpit
from
which
you preach
your decadent wisdom.

Dripping, oozing
thinning sauces.

Prepping, squeezing;
till heavenly visions
are realized.

Tuiles, chocolate decorations;
An offering
of snap,
of crispy symmetry;
Oh lovely visual revelations.

Is it enough to paint those lines,
to chase perfection
to gain
culinary
holy ground?

© All Rights Reserved. 2008

Poetry : The Long Ferment 0

My thoughts are a cloudy mess
gluten like epiphanies,
that meld into a thick opaqueness.

A forever state of
complex biochemical changes
slowly dampen my sweetness.

A rough life
my emotions inflate
leaching into alcoholic fumes.

I am stretched
into delicate webbing,
threatening to break.

A formula of years
tears moist yet salty
friction makes for uniformity.

Lay me down
let the realizations
multiply and engulf me.

Stowed internally
eventually I peak,
overflowing.

Constant reshaping
proofing the layers
which precede me.

I am thick skinned
yet vulnerable to
each harsh action.

Watch my color
fade,

the sheen ---
the splendor---

a dull reflection.


Amber © May 05, 2005. All Rights Reserved.