Opening Day

I confess - I'm a little nervous about what I'm about to attempt. You see, I'm a teacher - a math teacher. The kitchen scares me. It's not that I don't cook - I can. I have been making breakfast for myself and my family since I was a college student living in the basement of a sorority cooking weekend meals for the sorority girls. The problem is, my mind works like an algorithm. My math is built on rules that, if followed, lead you to the answer. To me, cooking is not.

To cook is to embrace the concept of 'pinches' and 'dashes' and seasoning 'to taste'. To me, that is just heresy. Imagine solving an equation like x-2=5 and adding 'a pinch' to both sides. Or maybe just add enough to both sides 'to taste'. No, that's not me. If anything, I am a rule follower. Rules are safe, consistent, rarely open to interpretation, and should always lead you home....right?

This discrepancy leads us to the ironic name of this blog and my quest. I am going to try and work my way through the hundreds of recipes we have in our house, trying to claim at least some of them for my own. Oh, I should add that my wife is a professional baker and a wonderful cook! So I get intimidated in her kitchen. But I'm going to do this - I'm going to try and find some things that I can make, that my brain can manage, and that I can feel confident in.

My plan: I am going to go through every recipe we own, big or small, and I am going to try and make them. I assume many will fail, not because of the recipe itself but because of my unskilled hands making it. But those that succeed, those that I believe I could make again, will be copied and placed into my very own recipe folder for future reference. I'm a little scared of what I will discover, and I know that my work will be subject to intense scrutiny, even mockery. But I jsut want to be able to make something that others will enjoy, and this is how I feel compelled to do it.

So, each time I make something, I will take a photo of the finished product. If it's a 'keeper', I'll include the recipe here (to the best of my ability). In time, perhaps I'll discover something about myself that I can really use. If not, at least I won't go hungry :)

TR 2/13/11