Its like mixing concrete. You know when its right.
I just pile in sour cream until its “just right”.
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Precisely.
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To not clog the topic up with my insanity, I’ll just say this prospect excites me and I’ll happily entertain thoughts/questions about it on my training log.
But solid concur: nothing more appreciated than a warm meal waiting for you when you get home.
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. If not here, where then? 
Its only crazy if it doesn’t work.
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100%. One of the most annoying questions I get as a chef is “What is your favorite meal?”
I always say “One cooked by somebody else,” and while it sounds filppant, it’s true. Bourdain does a better job explaining it.
“On my day off, I rarely want to eat restaurant food unless I’m looking for new ideas or recipes to steal. What I want to eat is home cooking, somebody’s —anybody’s — mother’s or grandmother’s food. A simple pasta pomodoro made with love, a clumsily thrown together tuna casserole, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, all of this is pure exotica to me, even when I’ve been neck-deep all day in filet mignon and herb-infused oils and all the bits of business we do to distinguish restaurant food from what you get at home. My mother-in-law would always apologize before serving dinner when I was in attendance, saying, ‘This must seem pretty ordinary for a chef…’ She had no idea how magical, how reassuring, how pleasurable her simple meat loaf was for me, what a delight even lumpy mashed potatoes were — being, as they were, blessedly devoid of truffles or truffle oil.”
That’s why I really like seeing what people do on this thread. You guys rock.
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The Southern version is “If it looks stupid but works, it ain’t stupid.”
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This was really nice to read. I’m having Thanksgiving at the son’s house who has done catering for nice inns. He’s a butcher, and has just moved way beyond me in all things food. Last year we were at my house, and I felt I had to apologize. I’ve made very little change to the TG dinner my mother (a mediocre cook at best) prepared, to which he responded “I like it,” but my thinking was “how could he?” We’d had his version the year before, and it was so much better. But of course he grew up eating the same basic TG as I did, so after reading the Bourdain quote I will now believe him when he says he likes it.
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Jim Wendler had a great quote “Everyone’s mom is the best cook in the world”
It’s way too true. When I went to college, my mom shut down the kitchen, like a member of the Night’s Watch, her watch was over. And I thanked her for her years of service. And funny enough, I got married and found out my wife’s mom had the same recipes as my mom, because everyone was operating off the Campbells soup instructions for making casseroles, but it’s still always going to be magical when it tastes “just like how mom used to make”. But for the longest time, if you asked me what my death row meal would be, it was my mom’s pot roast, which was really just a chuck roast tossed in a crock pot with some onion soup powder mix, but it just always made me happy.
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A very high percentage of chefs seem to claim a lot of love for Red Lobster.
Ha, not mine. I didn’t even know spaghetti could be tasty until I got a job waiting tables at an Italian restaurant when I was 18 or so. I’m a much better cook than she was because I have a great deal more interest in it than she did and enjoy reading recipes. Thanksgiving food isn’t necessarily my jam - I don’t like turkey, though will eat it as a holiday thing, and while I do like mashed potatoes and stuffing, I’m happy enough with them in their basic form.
But I’m a decent cook, not an inspired one.
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My mom made the best pies I’ve ever eaten. My son is learning and is becoming a close second.
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Same with my mum.
She enjoys food, which is why I enjoy cooking for her, but she doesn’t enjoy making it.
She never had to learn a lot of “home ec” skills bc my aunt (her older sister) is an amazing cook and can sew like a tailor
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Cooking is my love language. If I like/love somebody I’ll make them nice things, if I don’t they can do without.
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Your baking is really nice. 
.
I’m still dazzled by the mushroom rolls from like a month ago. It’s like they were pulled out of the deepest corner of my brain.
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I’m kind of sad I didn’t record the recipe for the filling. I threw some shite together and it worked
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Thats pretty great in its own rite. 
Me too! @anna_5588 every time you post a picture I wish I knew you so I could share in your delicious looking food. There is a true undercurrent of jealousy and feeling of being deprived of something amazing. Lol
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Intentional or not, she seems to understand my pallet pretty well. I think we share an overlapping interest in all things shroomy.
And baking. 
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