cooking versus baking

First off.. you know it is winter when you are baking chocolate cake with a hat on to keep you warm.  Good luck with 'room temperature' butter in NZ in winter.  The winters are mild, until you go inside.  

Tonight I noticed that I am much more of a baker than a cook, and both of those I prefer over cleaning.  Funny thing is that I almost always clean up when I bake.. which tonight I realized probably has to do with how baking has a built in clean up time when you are waiting for the oven to finish its job.  When I cook, I almost always am making something that is ready when it is ready, no time to clean up before eating.  And once I start eating, well cleaning is much less important than another drink, more conversation, etc..

...unless I decide to make a dessert.  I am always willing to clean before I bake.  You clean, you make a reward, you eat the reward looking at a kitchen that has been cleaned twice in an hour thanks to the magic of the baking time forcing me to do something while I wait - and why not clean.  

Too bad I have forgotten how to make a cake and ended up with tasty battered things 
not really worth frosting at this point, but at least the kitchen is clean.