About Natty Bakes

Hello Friends!

My name is Natalie Baker and I love food. I am quite original, I know. But hold on for a second!— my surname is Baker and yes, I bake. Not bad, huh?

This greed for food goes way back and some childhood related associations I have involve:

• Collecting lots of stuff when I was young, but having a special weird affinity for my little play kitchens and the accompanying plastic cooking equipment and food stuff.
• Playing make-believe, pretending this big rock in this park near my house was my chef’s kitchen.
• My favourite section of the Ontario Science Centre (well, tied with the human body section) being the food section.
• My best friend and I begging our moms to make us tea parties for some reason (cucumber sandwiches included).
• Flipping through certain cookbooks all the time and baking when I was allowed to (and licking the bowl, obviously).

Recently, I’ve been feeling pressure to limit my hobbies and focus on you know, a career or whatever,  but I’m happy because I know that I can incorporate this particular interest into my increasingly busy life with ease. I read up on stuff, listen to radio shows and podcasts, go to markets, try out recipes, try out restaurants, take (grainy) pictures of food- hell, even a trip to the grocery store is fun for me!

I believe that all five senses are important when it comes to eating and drinking. I enjoy the smells, the textures, the tastes, the colours & shapes, the sizzles- OK, but not really the sound of people eating; that can be a bit much once it has your attention. Although, I guess there are times when I kinda like the crunch of popcorn and other movie-food related noises; probably a positive association because I also love going to the movies… But yes, all this divergent talk and rambling to say basically that food should be about fun, love and all that good stuff. This ain’t no stuffy culinary arts hub- this is Natty Bakes.

Clearly, I am geekily pleased with my surname. and I vow to honour it through baking and sharing recipes when I can. I have included recipes that I continually go back to and that have some sort of significance to me. Test them out and see what you think. Enjoy!

-Natty Bakes

Sometimes I get so carried away with a meal that things get spilled--oops.