The Home Cook

I have been married for several years now and as my 'better half' can attest, my Home Ec type skills have definitely improved over the years. I think he would agree that the greatest improvement has been seen in the food that is served around our house. We often recall the dark days when we were first married and spagetti without meatballs was an all too frequent vistor on our kitchen table. But my favorite anecdote is of my first batch of cookies. Let me relate the tale. We were both in school at the time and I decided one day that I really wanted some cookies (I have quite the sweet tooth). Being quite naive and having no cookbooks handy I decided that I had made cookies loads of times and really didn't need a recipe. I proceeded to throw some ingredients into a bowl, believing that guesstimated amounts would suffice. I carefully rolled my carelessly made cookies and put them in the oven at what I hoped was the right temperature. When the time came that I thought they should be done (I hadn't set a timer of course) I opened the oven and to my suprise, the cookies looked exactly the same as when I had put them in, save for a slight golden brown on the bottom. My cookies had not melted down into the crispy, chewy little morsels I had hoped for. I couldn't even diagnose what I had maybe left out because due to a lack of a recipe, I didn't even really know what was supposed to be in them. Bottom line - using a recipe, especially when starting out in the kitchen is usually a good idea!

Look for more future home cook posts in the future; this post has me remembering all kinds of crazy things that have happened around our house while I stumble around in the housekeeping dark trying to make our house a home!

Note: the picture is old as the size of little skinner can attest. It was the only picture I have of me doing something Home Ec -ish. I'd really rather forget washing dishes - thanks!