During the exam periods, students are often found with their heads buried in books, their minds are occupied by a myriad of definitions, concepts, formulae and diagrams. While this is all well and good (encouraged even), the withdrawal symptoms are often neglected by society as a whole. When the exam period is over and done with, students are left staring at their empty desks, not knowing what to do now, because for what seemed like an eternity, studying was all there is to life.
This, is the story of the brave individuals who successfully fought off the brief existential crisis that swept over them during the 3 days of downtime before the start of semester 2.
It all started with a cheesecake recipe which propelled a bunch of guys who had never cracked an egg in their lives to set out on this long and treacherous journey. Once the ingredients were acquired from the local supermarket, and a date to bake it had been set, Daniel, my flatmate, and myself set to work. The recipe itself was not difficult to follow, but our lack of any kind of relevant experience made things… interesting.
Flour filled the air, the greasy sensation of butter and cheese was on every surface (or on our fingers depending on your perspective), the odor of raw eggs emanated from a secluded spot nobody was able to identify up till today. However, as the final ingredients were plopped onto the baking tray and gingerly placed into the oven, smiles and exhaustion were all we could muster.
That, and anxiety too. We certainly did give the mixture everything it got, but turning it into an “as seen on TV” product would require nothing short of a miracle. As the 25 minutes of baking slowly ticked by, our eyes did not wander from the tiny window of the oven, and we witnessed the magic of a cake solidifying into existence. But something was so very wrong, I was pretty sure the cake needed to “rise”, but apparently it was having one of those Monday mornings, and refused to clock in at work today. That was when the horrifying truth hit us, we had not used baking powder to bake the cake! How such a thing slipped past our notice is beyond me, but my newfound passion to bake is not to be dampened by a minor mishap brought on by the eagerness of my burning soul!
I wish I could say I made this. I really do.
but THIS is my masterpiece!
*Note that this is in fact a pretty shallow tray.
Immediately, a blueprint was drawn out to make plans for the next attempt. It may be a bit adventurous, but it has been decided that we shall overcome the mighty blueberry muffin, and scale even greater heights in our pursuit of culinary greatness in the future.
Blueberry Muffins later that week! They were absolutely delightful