A Step in the Right Direction

Maker Culture: the new Industrial Revolution consisting of circuit boards and exploding cellphones jumping out of handbags, (or at least that is what my mental picture looks like). Anyway, in the midst of this 'revolution', I have been wondering about the intertwining of things from other cultures. Will kids be just as adapt to make things native to India as they are to make things deemed 'Canadian'?

So, my journey begins here. When considering what I wanted to make in relation to the things we have read over this semester about consumerism. I wanted to do something that I would of (until now) only have bought. This is because I do like to make things, baking or cooking is a kind of down time for me. However, I know that there are tones of things I have never tried to make because I feared they'd be to hard. Or now as I have discovered: I have also been hesitant to make things from other cultures. This is where my idea to make Baklava first came from, no, actually it came from the thought "what is something I think is crazily hard to make, and because of that I only buy it?"
So the thing I am planning to make is, yes, BAKLAVA.. (said with big emphasis, accompanied by a mental picture of some crazy lava monster running down a mountainside, with honey dripping from its mouth shouting BAAA!!)

Baklava Monster

     
Yes. Exactly like that. Now how long do I think this creation will take? To be completely honest, FOREVER. Then after forever is over, this frankenstein of a creation will somehow come to life and step onto yours and my plate (unless I by accidentally make it with salt instead of sugar). Then forever will continue for a little longer. But, to be even more completely honest, I am quite excited, a lot actually. So this foreverness will also be some kind of paradise consisting of rivers of honey and hopefully unburnt baklava, not the baklava monster, but the Real BAKLAVA in all its glory.

When I make Baklava I plan on doing a few different things each time. Baklava can be made (as I am now in the midst of learning) many different ways. These being dependent upon what kind of nuts you use, what you glaze it with in-between layers of dough or even how you cut it.  So, with all this said, let the journey/ challenge begin. I accept.


Hey Everyone, here is an update on my timeline for this project.

When I make my batches I am planning on beginning with making a more commercialized 'Western version' first. This will help me get more familiar with the process and time it takes to make Baklava before doing a more complicated version such as my next one which will be an authentic as can be batch. When I make this one I am planning on making my own dough. To end it all, my last batch will be an authentic to myself kind of Baklava by drawing on what I learned from the Western version and the authentic Turkish kind.

This will all be fun, perhaps my end result will be made with maple syrup instead of honey.