Kitchen

[Harpa]

A chef to me is someone who enjoys spending long hours in the kitchen, plus the effort required for shopping for just the right ingredients. Everything has to be timed just so, so more production there.

Then there's the clean up. A chef doesn't usually have to worry about it.

I can cook, and even bake, but recently the newer recipes I've been making just doesn't measure up to what I actually prefer eating. And I like a tidy kitchen, so clean up has to be immediate.

I like Jamie Oliver's principals: less ingredients, hardly any time at all, big flavor.

[CelticCrafter]

My mother-in-law always used to say if you know how to read (a recipe) you can cook.

I can read a recipe and I think I'm just an okay cook because I really don't like to do it and the only reason I do is so we don't starve.

[wagirl]

@ECBG ---yes I have watched a vid or 2 but you know---I just plain don't care anymore. My interest in anything food--except for putting it in my belly---is long gone. 

[Sooner]

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@candys mine wrote:

@SoonerI LOVE Julia!  I too started out with her as a Very yongster, Watching her Slapping around that big fish or those chickens, repairing the crust of a tart,  My young self took away from those shows to Do Not be Afraid of Ingredients!   If I see something I want to try to make, I Go For It!

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@candys mine Couldn't have said it better!  As the old cookbook said Julia imparted "The Joy of Cooking" and it wasn't even her book!  

[Sooner]

@Mimi 1883 Wonder Woman?  Now that is funny!  I had a good laugh over that and thank you for the smile!  Quite the opposite but I must have a little OCD going I think because if I am interested in something I want to know everything about it.  Like I practically memorized the Southern Living Garden book when we had a garden.

Today, for example, I'm taking an online tea class!    Tea is fascinating: how and where it is grown and processed, the role it has played in history, etc.

Life is too short and there are too many interesting, and sometimes fun, things to do, to learn about and to try.  That's what cooking does for me, as well as feed us and delight us (most of the time ).

Thanks @Mimi 1883 and may your garden thrive and delight you and may the rabbits and mockingbirds stay far away!

[Razzy 7]

Eileen in Va and others who have many spices they don't use...

It's sometimes hard to determine ahead of time if you're going to like a particular spice with a dish you're making. If I'm not sure, I take a spoonful or so of the food in question and add a small amount of a spice I'm considering to it. If I like the taste I add that spice to my dish; if not I don't. I usually guess pretty well as to whether or not I'm going to like certain spice with certain recipes but on the rare occasion I don't like the sample I created, I don't use that spice and I haven't ruined the entire dish.