Posted by Jack McDermott
Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Katie Lane's baking column is anything but vanilla, I think it is high time we talk about baking in a house full of girls.
There are so many baked goods in our house right now we could probably open up a bakery that would shut down Plum Dandy, as blasphemous as that may sound.
Now, I am not saying guys do not or cannot bake; they just definitely do not bake as much as my housemates. The guys next door, in fact, do not bake at all.
Fun fact: girls love baking, girls love eating baked goods and girls love boys who make them baked goods. I just so happen to be one of those boys. But I really only make a couple different things— mostly rice krispy treats and chocolate chip cookies.
My housemates, however, are more into seasonal and themed baking. We had a whole month of apple cinnamon and now we are chugging along through cans of pumpkin and bags of brown sugar.
We've had apple pies, apple scones, apple tarts, pumpkin scones, snickerdoodles, white chocolate cookies, ice cream cake with marshmallows and teddy grahams, brownies, blondies and lots more cookie variations.
One time, the head baker of the house got me to help her make an apple pie at 3 a.m. on a Saturday. I'm not saying I regret it, but who does that?
Now what would baked goods be without some good old fashioned emotions? When you live in a house of girls, you come to notice that emotions are much more out and about in everyday interactions. There is much more drama, much more crying and much more honesty about everything.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that —it can actually be kind of refreshing — but guys do not really do that. We keep things to ourselves. And if and when we cry, we usually do it alone, out of sight, without anyone knowing.
Having said that, I must admit, since living with five girls, I have cried more times than ever before. This is not good. They're rubbing off on me.
On a similar note, I found out last night at dinner (yes, this was part of our dinner conversation) that the five of them are almost synced up, if you know what I mean. Next month is going be rough.
But to deal with all these emotions, the go to response is usually baking. It's true, according to one of my housemates, sometimes the only cure to whatever she's dealing with is a fresh batch of cookies. It's quite comforting.
So we've baked, we've cried and now to round it all off, let's talk about gentlemen friends.
It is quite interesting when one of my housemates brings home a guy to hook up with. When I have a girl over, it feels more normal because, well, it's a house full of girls. She just blends right in. But when there is another guy, it suddenly all changes. I'm no longer the token dude. I'm the token dude plus one. When I wake up in the morning do I try and be friendly like I would a regular guy? Or do I act awkward, because hey, you just slept with one of my sisters. I'll tell you when I figure it out
On a side note, this past weekend my housemate and I both had friends sleep over. Interestingly they were housemates too, conveniently living next door.
Jack McDermott is from Mars, but he lives on Venus.