Today, I would like to focus on what I have been doing as a bird in a cage during this “long” outbreak, apart from being at home on my phone, watching the news about the pandemic, watching movies and TV shows, and so on. I was able to have good conversations with my parents during the quarantine and cooked some good food for them, which led to me learning a lot of dishes and desserts, and bread, giving me an additional life skill during this time.

Below are some things I have done during the quarantine that makes me feel I am very talented in the dessert category; I should be able to be a good dessert maker.

Macaroons

The first dessert I try to make is Macaroon which I love to eat and buy whenever I see it in any dessert store but it’s a little bit expensive.

I had a lot of challenges at the beginning, the macarons didn’t look good (day 1 and 2) and tasted a little strange; I thought about giving up but I gave myself one last chance and by the third time I felt the taste improved and the appearance was similar to the ones sold outside (day 3).

By making macarons I feel like I’ve become more patient. I would relax for a while when I was focusing on making desserts and not thinking about how scary the virus was outside. I am a person who is prone to anxiety, and I was very anxious in quarantine while worrying about not being able to finish my studies. It is my first year in college after all, and a lot of it is new and unfamiliar, and doing dessert is what I found to ease my mood. 

Birthday Cakes

After macarons, the second dessert I wanted to make was a cake, which means not a cupcake, but like a birthday cake, because my brother and mother, and even myself, spent our birthdays in quarantine during the pandemic and since that time we don’t dare to eat the cakes that are from outside.

The first birthday cake I made was for my brother’s birthday. It was an Earl Grey bubble melt cake with cream and bubble on top, and when we cut it apart, the cream and bubbles would flow down like a waterfall. It was healing to see the cream slowly flowing down. This was the first cake that I made, and I felt that I finished it pretty well, and I became more and more confident to do all the things that followed and to be comfortable with it. 

The second cake was for my birthday, it was a normal strawberry and cherry cream cake, and I loved it, it tasted amazing. I believe this will be one of my most memorable birthdays because I celebrated it by making my cake, which was a new experience for me, it was amazing and interesting. Although I couldn’t spend my birthday with many friends, and also although it was my 18th birthday, I didn’t feel disappointed or unhappy, I still had a meaningful and satisfying day.

The last one was strawberry yogurt with waffle cake, which took more time than the first two cakes, it was a lot of work and tedious. While it took a lot of time, I still felt a sense of accomplishment when it was finished. Making cake has developed my patience and concentration. It is meaningful and loving to make a homemade cake for your family or beloved ones on their birthday.