Happy Birthday to MKK!

I can’t believe it but Mrs. Kringle’s Kitchen is a year old today!  It occurred to me that I never really shared how this concept came about.  Sorry about that!

So you may be wondering why the heck it’s called Mrs Kringle’s Kitchen?  Well, I’ve been a Christmas freak since I was a kid.  I’m not talking your normal excitement of the holiday, I mean I love the whole deal from decorating to chasing vintage Christmas ideals that some think only exist in Currier and Ives prints.  My idea of a perfect winter day in December is a lit tree, Christmas music in the background, the smell of ginger molasses cookies baking in the oven, big Charlie Brown snowflakes gently floating to the ground and of course, a cup of hot cocoa.  The thing is, I could easily go for that scene just as much in May, July or August.  Come mid-August, my baking gene gets activated and I want to bake ALL. THE. THINGS!  So why not share those things with all of you?

I have watched cooking shows even from PBS days and one thing I’ve noticed is how it has shifted from straight forward cooking shows like The Essence of Emeril (to which I yelled up to Mr. Kringle “hey, you’ve gotta come see this guy!”) to the Great Chefs series.  Both shows were very good at actually showing you straight forward recipes and the techniques to cooking them.  It showed what the batter, dough or meat should look like at certain stages of the recipe.  The chefs personalities could come through but the food was the focus.

As cooking shows became part of our vernacular and the demand to be entertained became the focus, cooking shows felt like they became more chef focused and filled with stories of family or antics to make them relatable.   It’s not that you didn’t see the recipe anymore but the fast paced editing between shots of food and faces was just not teaching me in the way it used to.  I would find myself having to record the show while I was watching it and re-watch it for certain recipes or visit their website.  I know the masses are used to this but I wondered how many people could actually make the recipe they just “watched.”  I loved cooking and baking and have been told for decades that I should open a restaurant or bakery, I thought the next best thing could be a YouTube channel.  Sure I love cooking and watching people enjoy what I make but it’s even more satisfying when you can actually teach someone how to make something especially if it doesn’t come naturally to them.  There’s a pride on both of our parts from knowing they can do it because of something I showed them.   Then I had to ask myself a question, could I do this?

Like many things in life, I can get excited about it, go all in and then somewhere along the line my energy fizzles.  I did worry about if the pressure of being on a schedule would steal my passion for cooking and baking.  I had my moments of self-doubt because who was I to come into a saturated market of other home cooks and think I could teach anyone anything?  In the end, I had to make a channel that *I* wanted to see because I knew I couldn’t be the only person wanting to see food focused videos that were about cooking classics and updated classics.  A big part of that was making food centric videos which meant not being in front of the camera.  I know that can really hurt people but as I mentioned, I am very easily distracted when it comes to cooking shows.  I like the food to be the focus so you can see how it should look in stages and share tips and shortcuts for busy people to be able to make delicious meals in the same time it would take to heat something from a box.  I am no pro but I love cooking and baking and sharing it with others.  I love hearing how co-workers like treats I send in or watch my doc’s eyes light up when I bring in a bag or welcome a family to their new home with a pre-made meal so it’s one less thing they have to worry about for one night.  Food is showing love and it’s always been that way.

My friend realized a dream of moving to a hotter locale to call home and when she sent me a picture of the Dulce De Leche Pumpkin Pies she made, I cried because it felt like even though we weren’t together for the holidays, we could still bake together because of that video.

When Mr Kringle, who edits my videos, makes a recipe because he saw how easy it was to make, it fills my heart with pride because while I’ve been with him for over 25 years, he never thought he could cook.  Now that he sees what goes into a dish, he has more confidence to try it where as before he would’ve just said he didn’t know how to cook and maybe shy away from it.  I’m so proud of him and I’m kinda proud of me too for teaching him in a way that holds his attention.  (Let’s face it, if you have no desire to learn to cook,  then learning by osmosis is a nice side benefit to the editing job!)

I have no aspirations to be “YouTube famous”, I’m just a lady who loves connecting with others through cooking and baking.  Just like your kitchen, mine is open all year round too!   While fall and early winter are all about the decadence of the holidays and pumpkin spice everything, when the fanfare dies down, I can share something as healthy as roasted spaghetti squash or as sinful as banana bread French toast.

For the driving force behind who inspires me to do this blog/channel, you can read about it here.

Thank you for being here regardless of when you found me on my journey.  I hope we can continue this baking and cooking journey together.  As you know, Fall baking season is upon us so make sure you subscribe to the blog here (upper right hand corner) to receive apple and pumpkin goodness delivered straight to your inbox!

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