
SharonToji
I am 86, and made my first cake with my friend (no adults in the house) at age six. The whole story is pretty comical, but we ended up with an edible chocolate cake something like a pan of brownies. From then on, my mother let me make cakes from scratch. I was in 4-H for 12 years, led my own club of little boys in “Camp Cookery” and baked all our family bread. I regularly won prizes at the county fair in Umatilla County Oregon, where I grew up. I have cooked on every kind of stove, including a coal stove in Germany, and in tiny kitchens with no counters. I make pretty much everything from scratch, even though I have worked full time for much of my life, along with raising 7 children. Now, I’m an ADA (Americans with Disabiities Act) consultant specializing in accessible communication, and don’t have many to cook for, but still love to experiment with new recipes and ideas. I was early with the Instant Pot and the larger table top convection ovens, and threw away my gas range about a year ago. So, I am really excited to get this Anova oven and to cook and bake with steam. With a half day to learn the oven, I made wonderful Brioche buns and a gorgeous “Judy Bird” turkey with stuffing for Thanksgiving. The steam added the last step of perfection to the famous “Judy Bird” and it was pronounced the “best of the best.”