It’s Friday evening and I should be out with some friends enjoying a glass of wine and unwinding from the long exhausting week. But here I am baking instead, because as usual I was overly ambitious.
Typically during winter months, the farmers market that I sell baked goods at is closed and I get to enjoy a much needed break of not waking up to an alarm on a Saturday morning. However, considering that the weather is behaving like a menopausal woman and we are expecting somewhat warm temps for February, they decided to hold a special market. While I could have easily stayed away, I decided to do some baking and release some stress from the week.
There are people who are stress eaters, stress smokers or even stress drinkers, but me, I am stress baker or stress runner. I suppose I should be thankful that I my vice is baking and running, because if I had baking and not running, I probably would not be able to fit in the front door. When I have had a bad day I head straight to the kitchen to start baking or put on my running shoes and pound the sidewalk for miles. Of course there are times I have done both.
Today thought I started to bake to relieve my stressful week plus because I had agreed to go to the market, baking added more stress to me.
I decided to experiment making some Ginger infused creme brûlée tarts, I make the crust and bake it and notice that it had shrunk a little, but because I was overly excited with the taste of the filling I decided to proceed not listening to my nagging voice that it might be a little too small.

First Attempt at Ginger Creme Brûlée Tart
Once done, I realized that it was a little too small and does not really fit into my perfectionist mentality or in other words my OCD personality. I am typically not OCD about things, but when it comes to baking/cooking I obsess with perfection, making it hard for my co-workers… but thats another story.
Since I am not one to easily give up, I decided to try again, making the assumption that I have learnt from my mistake. So I roll and fold and roll pastry again, keeping my fingers crossed, but alas I was wrong again. Still too small.
Sometimes the best thoughts and ideas can go awry, and I seem to be having one of those days.
Thinking of the quote “third time is a charm”, I decided to try again. Maybe this time I will use a different tart pan and roll it bigger and hope it will work. Better but not upto my expectations.

Third time is not always a charm
Maybe 4th time is the charm, but the fact that my stress reliever is stressing me out was a sign to leave the kitchen. I wish I could indulge in my next stress reliever of running, but it is 9 pm and 35 degrees, not really the time to go for a run. Instead I just signed up to run two half marathons in April.
I constantly tell myself that I need to learn to curb my obsessions with perfection and relax and accept that somethings are not worth stressing over, after all it is just a pastry.
Wiah i were there to eat the “bad” ones lo,
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I would love some friends who would enjoy eating my experiments. Let me know if you want to move 🙂
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Oops *wish.
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They both look lovely and delicious but the last photo looks perfect! I think you nailed it!
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Thank you PJ. The second one was my last attempt. Even though it looks nice, it shrunk and wasn’t upto my expectations. I still did them though.
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Well, from the photo it looked great!
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It was a hit at the market, I just need to stop being my worst critic.
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Yes, you are probably too hard on yourself.
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That looks so yummy 🙂
Please visit and follow my blog (www.lazymomcooking.wordpress.com) or my Instagram (lazymom_cooking) for some recipe ideas 🙂
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