Baking with Yaa

This is my neighbor/friend Yaa. Her name is short for Ganyaa which means September. Yaa is really into baking this year. She has been learning to cook American food and bake American sweets with me periodically this past year. She is always urging me to "open a baking course". She bought an oven this year as a result of baking with me and has also signed up for baking lessons with a bakery in town. When she comes over, she usually starts going through all my cookbooks and asks "can we make this?" I've been really busy these last few months and haven't felt up to having baking lessons. However, she has worn me down with her constant requests. This past Friday we made Banana-chocolate chip bars. I wasn't all that interested in making that particular recipe, but she was. So there I was reading the recipe out to her in Thai since she can't understand the English directions and she was busy following the steps. She wants to do it herself, so I just stand back, translate and instruct as needed. We've figured out that Americans and Thais have different baking styles. Thais tend to be very exact and deliberate and Americans upon understanding basic principles are a little more free and tend to just use our eyes. If the recipe called for beating something for 30 seconds, Yaa would count out loud because 30 seconds means thirty seconds! If the recipe called for beating until blended, she felt unsure since an exact time wasn't given. I had to reassure her that it was ok. She also has a hard time understanding why we don't sift every dry ingredient. Apparently Thai people do. As we bake, we give each other strange looks at the "methods" we each have, but then we laugh at each other and have a good time. We may start baking more often when Gracyn starts school. I told her it had to be during Aidan's nap and that if I agree to teach her that she has the responsibility of taking at least half the goodies home. She only wants "a taste" as she doesn't want to get fat. Uh...like we do!