Food. Everybody loves food to a certain
degree. We all eat it to survive. There
are others who eat it for pleasure. The
question is who cooks it? At my house,
that would be me. I take full chef
honors. There used to be a time when my
husband ruled as Lord of the barbecue grill, and my realm was confined to the
kitchen. My kids and I would wait, with baited breath
and growing appetites, for him to come home and cook something, anything, on
the grill. 
One day my
husband decided I needed to master the barbecue grill as well. The skill was on the list of things
that he should do and could do, but unfortunately hardly ever came home to do
and didn’t want to be bothered with when home.
If I wanted the taste of barbecued meat grilled to perfection, I needed to
learn. So I did, all the time with the
nagging thought in the back reaches of my brain that I was being prepared for a
life without him. Is he trying to tell
me something? Probably not, I am just a
tinge paranoid. I am a strong,
independent woman, whether I want to be or not.
This life as a trucker’s wife has made me that way.
Growing
up, it was the same scenario on the most part, since my dad was also an over
the road truck driver like my husband.
While he was away, Mom ruled the kitchen and did all the cooking. When Dad came home, he not only presided
over the barbecue grill, but also dazzled us with his skills in the kitchen. Crazy enough, it was my Dad that attempted to
teach me how to cook and insisted on me helping. He taught me how to cook breakfast: eggs,
pancakes, french toast, you name it. He
showed me how to make his spaghetti and his barbecue chicken. My Dad
actually had a huge collection of recipes that he began accumulating after my
mom died, and I got that little gold mine when he died in 2004.
Even though I watch “Master Chef” avidly and am openly in awe of Gordon Ramsay, and secretly scared shitless of him, I have no delusions that I could compete in the Master Chef kitchen, nor would I desire to. However, we don’t starve, and there are a few dishes I am damn proud to claim as my own concoctions. Yes, I cooked that. My mantra has always been and always will be: if you can read, you can cook.
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I've always done the lions share of the cooking at our house, with Kathy having her specialties that mostly include baking! My daughter (24) has mostly resisted the urge to learn to make even her favorite dishes which I've told her is extremelt short sighted on her part...as you just never know.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kathy, you work that grill girl!!! Lol
Joe, when your daughter gets her own place she will realize she needs to learn out of necessity! A person has got to eat. It is survival baby! Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI would agree with your mantra were it not for the fact that I've given people recipes, word for word, cup for cup, teaspoon for teaspoon and they make it and it tastes like cardboard, or worse. I think, the second half of your mantra should be, "Oh yeah, and use your taste buds, it may actually need a little more salt or sugar or whatever." I totally agree with Ramsay's quote. Hahaha. :) Great post, now don't let yo' man get all up in yo' grill! ;)
ReplyDeleteAngel Stew, tasting what you are cooking is a very important part of it. Even the best chefs of the world taste their cooking as they are preparing it. Gordon Ramsay totally cracks me up. Underneath all the bluster, resides a very sweet man. He demands perfection, and expects it, and he should. No one wants to eat shit, after all. Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI'm afraid I don't do much cooking at all - my husband takes care of the lion's share of it. I do know HOW to cook, but really do need to learn to barbecue as well.
ReplyDeleteLaurel, the secret seems to keep control of the fire and just keep turning whatever your cooking every 3 minutes or so until its done. That is my strategy. Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
Delete"If you can read, you can cook." - That's what my grandmother always said! I can cook, but Danny is the head chef at our house, and I'm so grateful for that! And I must confess, I don't know my way around a grill at all! Thanks for an entertaining post, Kathy!
ReplyDeleteMartha, I am so pleased you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI never learned to cook till the 90s and then it was sporadic. But now that I have such an appreciative audience, I've branched out to a lot of things I'd never have attempted in the past like chicken marsala and shrimp scampi. As for Gordon Ramsay, he's just too abusive. I realize it's part of his act and all but I don't like verbal abuse and it upsets me seeing him going off the way he does.
ReplyDeleteJoJo, boy you really are getting fancy! Russell is a lucky guy. ♥ Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteOh, those men and their barbeques... quite typical I think? Fun to read dear Kathy! God, Ramsey scares me too...would love to know more about food you cook- am sure its great, and am always curious about new recipes..Like family favorites..
ReplyDeleteEli, I am so pleased you enjoyed my post! Sometime I should share some of my signature dishes. Translation...stuff I make that my family actually want to eat! LOL Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteMy version of cooking is sticking chicken on the George Foreman grill and washing the veggies, easy as can be when you are allergic to everything lol
ReplyDeletePat, that will work! Thanks so much for stopping by to read and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI watch Master Chef, too, but with no desire or ambition to ever cook for anyone other than my family. :)
ReplyDeleteD Biswas, I love watching Master Chef! Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI love this. I always enjoy your person stories and this about our mutual love of cooking. Excellent job and. I'm sure you are passing your culinary skills on to the angel girl and precious boy. It's the best way to learn, in my book.
ReplyDeleteJo, both of my kids have taken an interest in cooking because they both LOVE to eat. LOL I am so pleased you enjoy my stories. Thank you so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI cook out of necessity not out of passion :) MY husband is a passionate cook, though and from the looks of it, so are you. Such a pleasure to read about the energy you put into it all. Have you mastered the grill yet?
ReplyDeleteShailaja, I don't know how passionate I am about cooking..I do it out of necessity. I do love trying new recipes, experimenting, inventing, and putting a new spin on food and then perfecting a recipe and making it mine. Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteBefore we got married, I told my husband I couldn't cook - because I hardly got a chance to do that at my mother's house. He agreed to do all the cooking! But after we got married, I realized that I could cook. I love to create and don't follow recipes in great detail. My mantra is if you can access the internet you can cook! ;)
ReplyDeleteCorinne, LOL very true, the internet truly helps. I have huge files online full of recipes sorted by type. Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteI love cooking!! :)
ReplyDeleteI love and enjoy sharing a meal with my friends and family :)
K cooks as well - so its a family thing and we both have our signature dishes..
I don't like Ramsey or Master chef US - too much filth and drama.
I prefer the original - Master Chef Australia - its all about food and the mentors/judges are amazing and talented people who do not spew filth on the contestants.
pixie, I have never seen the Australia version. Lately I think they have kept the filth to a minimum. I always see a kind side to Gordon. He is simply a perfectionist that tells it like it is, much the way I do. I identify with him and have a lot of respect for him. I also think he is a bit funny. Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments! ♥
DeleteGordon Ramsay IS scary! I do the cooking at my house but have avoided using the grill. That time is about up though.
ReplyDeletejannatwrites. ha ha! We grill at my house all year round! It is tradition to barbecue steaks New Year's Eve, and believe me, most of the time we are usually ass deep in snow and freezing that night, still we do it! I love Gordon Ramsay. Thanks for stopping by to read and for your sweet comments! ♥
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