Not Your Mother's Cooking

This is the first co-blog for my daughter Sarah and I, in which we will be blogging on the same topic. When you've finished reading please hop on over to her blog and see what she has to say.  I'm excited to get started, so here goes....

Both my daughters love to cook.  It's probably true what they say about gene's skipping a generation...I know they did not acquire this love from me.  Although, it could have developed out of some basic need to eat something that didn't actually start out in a can or a box.  That's probably closer to the truth.

It's not that I can't cook.  I have been known to cook from scratch a time or two, and mostly with good results.  For instance, I would NEVER serve spaghetti sauce from a jar or a can.  My sauce is probably my one claim to fame.  But, it's easy to make and it doesn't involve any chopping, slicing, dicing or any of those ing's associated with the kitchen.  So, again, it's not that I can't cook.  I just don't like to cook.  When it comes to cooking, I like to take the path of least resistance, which means dump something out of a can or a box or stick a frozen something in the oven.  It's not that I'm lazy either and it SURE isn't because I don't care about eating.  One look at me and you'll know that's not true.  I just find the whole process of "real" cooking tedious and boring and I could think of a thousand other things I'd rather be doing.  My daughter, Sarah, claims cooking relaxes her.  I think she's nuts.  I'm sure she'll probably blog about how much she looks forward to coming home from work to cook a good meal.  I look forward to her doing that too, since she lives with me, it works out great for me! 

We do share a love of  the Food Network and all cooking shows great and small.  Curious thing that.  I think there is a part of me that wants to love to cook.  I love the gadgets and all the techniques and all the creations.  When I watch those shows I can imagine myself in Giada's kitchen making those great pasta dishes with ingredients I can't pronounce.  I want to be Ina Garten.  I could spend thousands refitting my kitchen with beautiful cooking things I would not use.  Whenever I tell my husband I want some kind of cooking apparatus, he rolls his eyes.  Because he knows it will end up in the closet with the bread maker, the waffle iron, the salad spinner, the quesadilla maker and who knows what else, that has been used once or twice, and relegated to the closet, never again to see the light of day.  That closet is like the island of misfit kitchen gadgets.  They are just waiting to be taken home and used by someone who will love them.  That someone is not me.  When it comes right down to it, I have to be honest with myself (and the poor kitchen gadgets) and accept the truth that...I hate to cook, and not even the fanciest garlic press or the sharpest knife in the block is going to change me.

So, I accept the non-cooking me with all her boxes, cans, jars and frozen foods.  I love her in spite of the fact that she does not know the difference between saute and fry, and could care less.  I'm ecstatic that my daughters love to cook.  I'm happy for their future families.  I just wish I could figure out how to get them to live with me forever...

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Thanks for reading and please leave me a comment and let me know how you liked the co-blogging thing.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!