Galentine's Brunch and Experimenting with AI

I’m determined to get back to writing on a more regular basis. That means you’re going to be along for this experimental ride with me.

When I was writing more regularly, I would find inspiration in the most mundane places; that is to say, almost everywhere. Every minute of every day was blog post inspiration. These days, inspiration takes come coaxing to show itself. I sit and let my mind wander until something like an idea pops in. Sort of like a wheel spinning (a la Wheel of Fortune) round and round until it lands on a section I can work with.

Today, the subject wheel landed on baking, cooking, and recipes because I am making cupcakes for a Galentine brunch tomorrow. I’m (mumble) years old and have never been to a Galentine party. I mean, I don’t celebrate Valentine’s day but Galentine is different.

• Origin: Coined in 2010 by the character Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, defined as "ladies celebrating ladies".
• Date: Takes place on February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.
• Purpose: To celebrate the special bond of female friendships, focusing on appreciation, support, and joy.
• Activities: Common celebrations include brunch, cocktail nights, gift exchanges, potlucks, or viewing movies.
• Significance: It serves as a positive, non-romantic alternative or addition to Valentine's Day, emphasizing friendship, empowerment, and mutual support among women. 

Since I enjoy cooking and baking, I volunteered to make cupcakes for tomorrow. I was going to make my tried-and-true chocolate cake recipe. That’s the first cake I ever made from scratch and that recipe has never failed me. But, I love to find a recipe and use it as inspiration. The problem with that- not using a recipe as written- is that I can almost never duplicate it. I’ve found a solution that is really easy.

My new trick is to let AI sprinkle in my tweaks. The fun part is you get immediate feedback of how your recipe will change. AI tells you how your changes will affect the taste, the texture, even the color. AI tells you if your cooking or baking time will change. If you ask, it will even compare the original recipe to the recipe with your changes and give you a review of the flavor changes.

I also used AI to tell me how much frosting to make. My biggest problem making frosting is that I always have some leftover. It’s usually too much to just pitch, too much to just eat, but not quite enough to save. Today, I told AI how many cupcakes I was making, what the size of the cupcakes were, and it told me precisely how much frosting to make. I am eager to find out if AI was correct and I will post an update.

Oh, by the way, here’s a link to my unadulterated, fail-safe chocolate cake recipe: 

Fail Safe Chocolate Cake Recipe

Maybe this isn’t my best post, but at least it’s something. The best way to get back to doing something is to actually do it. Geez, how profound hahaha. Seriously though, I need to stop being intimidated by the blank white page and blinking cursor. So stick with me, this should get better.

Addendum:

The AI cake was dry as heck. The flavor was okay.

The AI frosting recipe made too much.

I’ll stick to my intuition when it comes to tweaking recipes and only use AI to track the changes.