#NinjaBakeAlong
Quarantine baking/cooking at its finest, if I had to describe the Ninja Bake Along in one sentence that would be it. With the world going into lockdown because of the Corona Virus a lot of us took to the kitchen to keep busy and find creative ways of staying sane through a very unique period of time.
The Ninja Bake Along started during this time when the basics of baking and cooking were questioned constantly, I mean people were buying bananas only to let them get over ripe to bake bread. In saying this I do not have a condescending tone, as I am one of those people who made more than 1 loaf of banana bread during quarantine.
The kitchen has always been a place of therapy and calm for me. After a long day mentally/physically baking is my stress buster, it keeps me grounded as the simplicity of mixing ingredients to form beautiful cakes or loaves of bread not only action into account a sense of achievement but also makes me feel like a magician.
During the lockdown I took to the kitchen more than ever bringing me to initiate the Ninja Bake Along. The idea was to share the joy of cooking and baking has in my life with everyone based on how I work/dance in the kitchen. Yes, I always have music in my kitchen resulting in me always dancing while I cook/bake. The series started off with me picking a recipe, sharing the ingredients in advance and baking/cooking the dish live on Instagram for anyone and everyone who wanted to learn more about the art of baking or cooking domestically with a professional edge (This is where the skilled chef in me comes out to play). As time has progressed the close to 1-hour session is now divided into 4 segments: Introduction, Actual Cooking/Baking, Q&A and Gratitude segment. We have covered a variety of recipes from sweet to savory, comfort food to healthy bakes and weeknight wonder recipes fit for any time of the day or week no matter how busy or tired you are.
With a dozen recipes shared live, the response towards this has been extremely overwhelming with an average of over 1200 views per live that has only been increasing, over 200 recipe shares and close to 300 reposts/tags of the recipes successfully recreated I can officially say we have a very enthusiastic Ninja Community. What sets this series of recipes apart are the substitutes and various cooking/baking methods, as the aim of this Ninja Bake Along was for anyone and everyone to be able to participate, prepare something beautiful and of course it had to be easy and lip smacking delicious. The Ninja Bake Along sessions has gotten more scientific in time with the demands of the audience taken into account every week with live polls. Now, a great amount of precise information is being dished out about ingredients, cooking temperatures and measurements, which make the Ninja Bake Along fun, informative but highly educational.
As the restrictions ease out and life goes back to normal I intend to continue these live sessions to the best of my ability and share the joy of my cooking and baking by bringing a little positivity through food into your kitchens virtually. So, going forward I would like to say mark your calendars every Saturday at 2pm UAE Time, crank up the volume of your favorite music in the kitchen and get ready to be bombarded with intense Positive Ninja Vibes. See you there!