as i sat at our kitchen table tonight, my dad was making a ham and cheese sandwich for supper. apparently he wasn't interested in the tomato my mom had cut and put on the table. my mom picked it up, walked over to the stove, and plopped it into the big pot of soup that she had simmering. i watched in amazement, from our table to the stove. no contemplating, no second guesses. as if it was supposed to be in the soup from the start. i handed her a loaf of bread in jest. my mom just laughed. "what, do you think i use a recipe after all of these years?"
it really wasn't putting a tomato into chicken soup that startled me. it was my mom in that split second. my mom has always cooked 2 or 3 meals a day for us. i can think of possibly 10 dishes that she actually uses a recipe. everything else she just DOES. and it never phased me. and like i said, she does it without a second thought. she just knows.
i think about myself, when i bake a pie, or cupcakes, or even some of the (few) dinner dishes i cook on my own. i am meticulous. reading and re-reading the recipes. measuring to perfection. setting the timer and poking the cake with a toothpick 45 times to make sure that it's really done. my mom can tell by looking.
i wonder when i'll get to that point. when i can improvise ingredients and know that adding one spice will make flavor pop and another will make it gross. i'm just lucky i'll have my mom to teach me.
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That's the fun part, taking risks. Trying to figure out which flavors work well together. I am a bit of a recipe nut myself but have taken a few risks myself. My secret ingredient... milk. I use it in almost everything :P
ReplyDeleteHappy baking!
I really, really loved reading this.
ReplyDeleteWhile I bake and cook quite a bit. I still use a recipe as a guide. Just to make sure I'm heading in the right direction. I'd say I'm getting there.