Meet An Artist Tuesday

Today's guest is Amber Harned, a great friend and fabulous baker.  She makes some of the yummiest desserts you've ever tasted.  Here's what she had to say about her creations.

Q) What inspired you to become a baker?
From a very young age, I remember helping my grandmother in the kitchen doing all sorts of things. Some of my fondest memories as a child are being alongside her in the kitchen, baking cookies or pies. Curiosity turned to creativity, and creativity turned to passion, and eventually baking became so much a part of me that I can’t imagine my life without my kitchen endeavors.

Q) What is your favorite thing about baking?
I think my favorite thing about baking would have to be the creation of something by my own hand. I have never been “artistic” in the conventional sense, but baking and cooking give me a creative outlet that are their own forms of art. I also love sharing my food with others. It’s how I show my affection. Cooking and baking for family and friends, and then getting to see the enjoyment (most of the time!) on their faces when they try something I prepared, really make me feel happy and satisfied.

Q) What is your least favorite thing about baking?
Well, it’s only natural that experimentation sometimes yields failures, so that always stinks when I am so excited to try a new recipe and it flops completely. But one of my personal pet peeves, although I have nothing to compare it to, is the issues that arise with baking at such a high altitude. Talk about a guessing game!

Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
That’s a tough one… while I think it would be a blast to have a bajillion dollars, a mansion, a personal trainer, and some exotic sports car, I don’t think I would much care for all of the drama and limelight that your typical A-list celebrity has to deal with on a daily basis. I would much rather just win the lottery and be able to get all of those celebrity toys and perks for myself than have to walk a mile in any of their shoes. Most days, I kind of like just being me.

Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
I don’t think that this question will give you nearly as disgusting of an answer as you were probably hoping for, simply because our fridge died on us around a month ago and we had to pretty much get rid of almost anything! If you had asked me a month ago, though, I am sure it would have been some random condiment or sauce that we got to try with a specific recipe and then never used again. We usually accumulate quite the collection of those kinds of things, although we are trying to stay away from them a little bit more nowadays.

Q) What does the future of baking hold for you?
Lots and lots of butter and sugar…. Seriously though, it holds a lot of potential! I love baking and cooking, and I love creating. There is no way I could ever give it up, especially when I have so many awesome people in my life to share all my goodies with. I hope to continue, slowly but surely, growing my food blog, If It Bakes You Happy, which gives me the wonderful opportunity to write in addition to the baking aspect of things, which I just love to do. In a dream world, maybe someday I will be lucky and driven enough to write and publish a cookbook.
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
Life After the Undead Life After the Undead
reviews: 55
ratings: 100 (avg rating 3.64)

The Appeal of Evil The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation, #1)
reviews: 38
ratings: 63 (avg rating 3.54)

Wucaii Wucaii
reviews: 32
ratings: 35 (avg rating 4.11)

Death to the Undead Death to the Undead (Sequel to Life After the Undead)
reviews: 20
ratings: 39 (avg rating 4.23)

Dealing with Devils Dealing with Devils (The Road to Salvation, #2)
reviews: 22
ratings: 32 (avg rating 4.00)