First of all, music.
Ah, music (actually Aliki wrote a children's picture book entitled just that. I have it in my guest/class room. Somewhere in all of this:
And sadly, no... That is nowhere near all of it. Can we just say God bless the kind gentlemen that loaded the truck in Florida and the saints that carried it all UPSTAIRS in Virginia?)
But I digress (again).
Music is essential to keep you shake, rattling, and rolling in the kitchen. And if you're sick of your iTunes playlist/cds/etc. as I am prone to get, check out Pandora where you create your own radio stations based on your musical preferences.
Okay so essential #1 is music.
Let's make #2 equipment. You can bake just about anything with 2 good mixing bowls, a wooden spoon, a spatula, and a hand mixer. I will admit that I whisk just about everything by hand in lieu of electrically mixing, but there are times when you must cream butter or cream cheese, etc. and an electric mixer comes in handy.
But expensive equipment? Kitchen Aids and $100 pans, while nice, are not necessary. I have baked all of the muffins I've shared with you in those $2.00 aluminum foil muffin pans from the grocery store. Reynolds also makes aluminum 13 x 9s and just about every other size. You don't need to invest a ton of money for baking success (though, if you catch the baking bug you will eventually want to invest in something a little more permanent. You know, something you can put through the dishwasher).
#3: Thick skin and a sense of humor.
Seriously. When you cook or bake, you are going to have great success and great failure. Some of this will be mechanical (it just didn't come out right!), and some of this will be personal (you could make me the best tasting pumpkin pie in the world, and I'm never going to like it because I don't like pumpkin!), but it's no biggie. You've got to be able to laugh at yourself, your crazy creations (Speaking of, I'm going to digress and share a story with you: When I was 12, I decided that I wanted to make different colored sugar cookies so I died the dough before I baked it. All of the cookies came out looking like moldy hamburger patties. To fix this, I made a vanilla icing/glaze to pour on top, which made the cookies look like moldy cheeseburger patties. They could have been the best cookies in the world, but no one - myself included - was going to eat them), and accept the fact that not everyone is going to like what you bake. You are always your hardest critic. I often think something is sub-par only to receive more compliments on it than when I share what I consider to be a baking masterpiece! Tastebuds differ from person to person. They're like snowflakes that way.
And finally (and this is the most important): #4 is practice!
The only reason I can walk into my kitchen, pull out some random ingredients, and cook or bake something that might remotely be appetizing is because I have practice in the kitchen. I know that cakes need a certain amount of flour and sugar and baking soda because I've made a ton of them! I can bake bread from scratch and make up a new recipe because I know what it takes for a loaf of bread to work mechanically (the taste might be WAAAY off, but the loaf will have the texture and consistency of bread). I don't read cookbooks (I don't like them: I only like to look at the pictures), watch the Food Network (I don't want to watch someone cook; I'd rather be doing it myself. Plus, those recipes are rarely practical), and I have never attended a culinary institute other than my mother's or grandmother's kitchen. It's all experience.
So, my friend, no excuses. Get in there, make some mistakes (small and large), and have some fun! And if you don't end up enjoying cooking or baking, that's cool too. But just don't let it be for lack of trying. :o)
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