I love to cook. Absolutely. I love all aspects of it...the prep, the cooking itself, the coordination of all the dishes so they're done at the same time, and yes, even the clean-up afterward. My wife gets mad at me because I won't let her even wash or dry the dishes. It's how I relax, I keep telling her.
Yes, I'm weird.
There was a time when my wife did most of the cooking while I worked outside the house. Even though she's a good cook, she really didn't like it. That's similar to my mother, an Italian born of immigrants who is probably one of the best cooks I know (surpassed only by her mother) and only recently discovered she really never liked doing it.
Talk about messing up my childhood.
Anyway, I must've learned something watching her over the years or maybe there's something to the truth that cooking has to be in your "blood" (or DNA, if we want to modernize the myth a little bit). Whatever it is, once my wife and I moved from L.A. to Phoenix, I took over the cooking duties and never looked back.
My wife is a big fan and she (by her own admittance) is a picky eater but she raves about what I serve. Perhaps I cook specifically to her tastes and preferences, and though I like my own cooking as well, I don't consider it rave-worthy.
Though I mostly only cook for us, I've occasionally done so for others, too, including my mother. To my surprise, I've gotten rave reviews, so I guess I'm doing something right.
The only time I don't cook is when we used to go out to dinner after one of our retail forays. My wife, always complimentary, would enjoy the outdoor food but insist I've ruined her for restaurants forever.
Naturally, this self-isolation we're undergoing is keeping me in the kitchen more frequently than in the past and I'm loving it. It's given me a chance to experiment more, oftentimes with my wife as a muse as she finds recipes that look good to her. I don't mind her input at all...it gives me ideas of what she would like to try.
Besides writing, cooking gives me a creative outlet like no other. I'd invite you over, but we should all shelter in place.
Yours from the kitchen,
Michael
Yes, I'm weird.
There was a time when my wife did most of the cooking while I worked outside the house. Even though she's a good cook, she really didn't like it. That's similar to my mother, an Italian born of immigrants who is probably one of the best cooks I know (surpassed only by her mother) and only recently discovered she really never liked doing it.
Talk about messing up my childhood.
Anyway, I must've learned something watching her over the years or maybe there's something to the truth that cooking has to be in your "blood" (or DNA, if we want to modernize the myth a little bit). Whatever it is, once my wife and I moved from L.A. to Phoenix, I took over the cooking duties and never looked back.
My wife is a big fan and she (by her own admittance) is a picky eater but she raves about what I serve. Perhaps I cook specifically to her tastes and preferences, and though I like my own cooking as well, I don't consider it rave-worthy.
Though I mostly only cook for us, I've occasionally done so for others, too, including my mother. To my surprise, I've gotten rave reviews, so I guess I'm doing something right.
The only time I don't cook is when we used to go out to dinner after one of our retail forays. My wife, always complimentary, would enjoy the outdoor food but insist I've ruined her for restaurants forever.
Naturally, this self-isolation we're undergoing is keeping me in the kitchen more frequently than in the past and I'm loving it. It's given me a chance to experiment more, oftentimes with my wife as a muse as she finds recipes that look good to her. I don't mind her input at all...it gives me ideas of what she would like to try.
Besides writing, cooking gives me a creative outlet like no other. I'd invite you over, but we should all shelter in place.
Yours from the kitchen,
Michael
