I’ve honestly been having a bit of a hard time during this quarantine. I found out that a few of my family members caught COVID-19 first thing in the morning the day I was supposed to start this assignment—obviously I didn’t do it on time. Naturally after hearing the news my mind did somewhat of a spiral; are they going to recover? One of them JUST turned 14, his sister was supposed to get married in 2 months, and their dad was the biggest hype man and the one who always gathered our crazy and toxic family together. 

Cool. I’m just going to wake up and make breakfast and eat it in my room. My emotions just faded off while I tried to focus and do my work for all of my classes. Instead I was doing research on something outside of my major. Music is my life. I’ve been singing and creating music for as long as I can remember but I feel like I’m lacking something. I’m struggling to grasp higher music theory and to learn to read and play an instrument.

Sweets— I was seriously craving brownies, cookies… doughnuts. Bingo. Next thing I knew I was watching videos on how to make doughnuts. I placed my laptop and speaker on the counter determined to make these bomb doughnuts because it’s what I wanted to do.

 I took out everything I needed and 2 large bowls. I was doing everything I remembered I learned then referred back to the video when needed. I did the majority by hand and it honestly felt pretty amazing. Then I had to wait for it to rise for an hour. After that I shaped them and fried them; the oil was too hot. I kept trying and finished the batch. Everyone said it was great but as a person who bakes and cooks a lot I didn’t feel satisfied with how they came out.

I let it be for the rest of the day then I did things around the house, helped my mom make dough for food she was going to cook, watched more food videos until my stomach was hurting, I even looked at flights to leave the country around the end of the summer like a dummy. It was 10pm and I found a better video and recipe. I took everything to the kitchen counter again. I watched the video 2 times and read the written instructions before I started. By the time I started I had the process practically embedded into my brain. I got the dough prepared by 10:45pm, but I had to wait for it to rise before I could fully prep it. While I waited for it to rise I decided to clean up the kitchen so my mom wouldn’t murder me first thing in the morning. 

I finished cleaning as soon as the timer went off. I kneaded the dough thoroughly until midnight then closed the container so I could make the doughnuts the next day. I made them and they definitely came out better this time but I still want to make it better. Now I don’t know how to end this. This showed me that I tend to cook/bake things that I never have when I’m avoiding my own emotions. It’s a win-lose kinda thing. I’ll put the recipe below in case you guys wanna give it a try.

Twisted Korean doughnuts (Kkwabaegi)