Former schoolteacher Jerre Borland has always had a creative side. Now that she isn’t in the classroom anymore, the Alabama native and New Iberia resident said she still is able to express herself through her cooking, but she finds time to have fun outside of the kitchen with her family.

What’s your kitchen like when you’re baking?

It’s a hot mess because there are so many components. My people are like, ‘Oh my gosh mom’s baking again.’ But everyone kind of moves out of the way and lets me do my thing and everyone has been really supportive. My daughter told me one day I was working on a cake and she said mom you have icing all over your face.

Does your family get first dibs when you’re done baking?

My people don’t like cake at all. Nobody. My husband would eat it. In fact, my daughter loves plain cake. She’ll eat the cake but not the icing. My kids never ask for cake. Even my daughter, she would rather have a pie or macarons. They don’t get into my stuff very much.

What do you enjoy most about baking?

I think it feeds that creative part of my soul. It’s really just being creative and having an outlet for that. It gives me a way to meet people because I love meeting people. It’s a great outlet for learning about your community and meeting people. Especially the Teche Area Farmers Market. That has been a great outlet for me. I’ve met some great people there.

Do you like to do anything else for fun other than baking?

I like baking, but I like to write. And I raise teenagers. I have a teenage daughter at home and I have a son away at college. But my teenage daughter is a dancer so we are constantly in motion.

What do you like to write?

Small fiction and essays. I published a couple of times, nothing too big. I love it. And I think that’s the thing with baking: I’m already artsy and anything I can do with my hands, anything I can do with creatively, I am attracted to.

Do you have a favorite movie you like to watch?

I’m a Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets (of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) lady, those are my favorites. I love Southern comedies.

Alabama, Auburn or LSU?

I am a graduate of the University of Alabama and I was a Bama Belle, and I recruited athletes to the program under Gene Stallings and all of those amazing people. I came here and married an LSU grad, so we are a divided bunch. But it works pretty well. We made it work for 20 years.