When I became a mother, one of my earliest goals was to create the perfect sugar cookie to cut and decorate with my kids. While most mothers were planning and preparing their kids to get into the perfect preschools to pave their way to college, I spent my days fine-tuning chocolate chip cookie recipes for the school bake sale. To say that our home revolves around the kitchen is an understatement, we plan our entire day around baking. In our kitchen we have a sign above the table that reads, “We dance in this kitchen”. And dance we do, along with singing, laughing and genuinely enjoying each others company.
Life has a way of putting what we value into perspective and prioritizing all of the things we take for granted. Recently, I had a stroke that took most of the vision from my left eye. Creating a new normal and adjusting to life without depth perception was a challenge, but one I was eager to conquer. I developed an intense gratitude for sight and every aspect of life it allowed me to enjoy. I convinced myself that the stroke was a fluke, a chance event that would never happen again. When I woke up one morning to find similar symptoms in my right eye, I had a sinking feeling I had talked myself into the wrong narrative. After an eye examination the doctor told me I have an abnormality in my eye that may be the cause. I was relieved to know there was a better explanation than a forty year old ( a very young 40 year old 😉 ) having a stroke, but an abnormality meant that the future of my remaining vision was unsure.
As I contemplated my new reality I began to think about life without sight… my life without sight. Baking! How would I bake? Had I taught the girls to bake the crème brûlée in a bain-marie? Did I show them how to let the macarons sit for 30 minutes to form a skin before putting them in the oven? And, what about all of the recipes I have never written down? You know, the dishes you make so often you don’t actually know if a paper recipe exists. I wasn’t ready for this…not now.
One thing you need to know about me, is that I am a control freak. Dealing with uncontrolled variables is not something I do well. I needed to find a way to “accept the things I couldn’t change, have the courage to change the things I could, and the wisdom to know the difference”. I realized, I needed to start by writing down all of my recipes with exact measurements. But, what about the recipes that the technique was just as important, if not more, than the ingredients themselves. Recipes like pie crust, meringue, and macarons. I needed to teach my girls these recipes not just write them down.
That is when this blog was born. It was the perfect solution! It was power I could take back to create a positive, in a world of seemingly negative variables. Not only will this blog allow me to document my recipes and teach techniques but it would put singing, dancing, and laughter back into my hardest trial with my girls by my side.
Our hope for all of you reading and following this blog is that you will be able to learn from our life and kitchen mistakes, take the delicious lessons we have learned and make them a part of your family.
All of Our Love & Best Wishes
-Heidi, Maddie, & Kennedy
sweeterthymes.com 