Sweet dreams of career as a baker
Most teenagers can make themselves a bowl of cereal with milk, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and maybe a hot dog. For dessert: a chocolate chip cookie with milk. For 17-year-old Christina Swiatowy, however, dinner is a gourmet meal with an exquisite dessert. She doesn't just reheat pizza or bake chocolate cake out of a box, she likes a challenge. Crepes, homemade pasta, pierogies, French macaroons, creme brulee, Bakewell tarts and truffles -- that's more up her alley.
Christina, a senior at Williamsville North High School, started baking Christmas cookies with her mom, Laura, as a kid. They made sugar cutouts, Italian snowballs, raspberry thumbprints, cherry squares and candy cane cookies. The pair also won prizes for her mom's famous apple pie at Williamsville's Old Home Days (third place) and the Taste of Buffalo (first place).
Now that she's older though, Christina cooks by herself more often. She loves to bake for friends and family. She has friends living throughout the country and she sends them care packages of baked goods. She also cooks dinner every Sunday for her family. Some of her favorite dishes are: Asian stir fries, French savory crepes with chicken or mushrooms, and Italian homemade ravioli stuffed with cheese, mushroom or lobster.
