Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for November 14, 2017

Complete opposite in our house. Because I follow the recipe.

It’s always better wen someone else cooks.

Only if that person knows how to cook. Trust me, my husband can burn water.

My wife doesn’t trust me in the kitchen (for good reason), and she hates to cook. So, we dine out a lot.

I have an undiscriminating palate. Everything tastes good because (mostly) we keep it simple.

My former M-I-L didn’t measure and everything pretty much came out good. The expression at the table. “This is good Sals. Too bad we’ll never get it again.”

My grandmother (paternal) taught my mother to cook after she was married; Mom says Grandma’s instructions were along the lines of “Then you put in of salt.”

“How much?”

“Oh, just enough.”

Grandma was a hard-core pinch-and-scoosh cook – an a pretty amazing one, at that!

My Italian-American wife is the same; after watching closely for 34 years, I can almost duplicate her spaghetti sauce & meatballs.

My wife is from the North and I am a multi-generation Southerner. One Christmas, after years of pumpkin pie, I made my mother’s mother’s bourbon-chocolate pecan pie and we carried in my lap to Milwaukee, on the airliner. That was years ago. I am still required to make and smuggle past TSA, a bourbon-chocolate pecan pie to the annual in-law’s Christmas dinner. My pie always disappears first. I find the easiest way to get past TSA, is to make 2 and let them choose which they can keep and sample ;-).

Years of practice. That, and don’t repeat your mistakes. All her go-to meals are already tested.

Arlo is a smart husband!

I love to cook. My husband takes his lunch to work with him and everyone asks him what did I make last night. I have a reputation for being a great cook. So they are always excited when they have a potluck lunch.

But he can fix the car….

My wife is like that. She can whip up something from, what appears to be nothing, in the fridge and it will always be delicious. And quickly, too!

The old trail drivers knew something like that when they traveled through country with other ranches with loose cattle around. And that was that someone else’s beef always tastes better than yours.

I used to go to a monthly meeting with a potluck and when I walked in the door people didn’t say hello, they said “what did you bring?”.

But I want to know how saying “it’s always delicious” requires an apology.

Reminds me of them old Grange Potluck Suppers ‘back in the day’ … Some wimmin’s cookin’ (and bakin’) could scare a dawg offa a gut-pile, but there were other dishes that needed ‘second helpin’s’ just to make sure it was all that good !!

I learned to cook from my mother when I was in Jr. High and started many of the weekly dinners in High School because both of my parents worked. When I got to college I had an on campus apartment (an old dorm converted to apartments with a bedroom and kitchen/dining area/living room) and cooked my own meals, a friend told me later that my cooking had a reputation and people would go out of their way to walk past my door and smell while I was making dinner. Lately I’ve gotten into the habit of making one big meal a week and splitting it up to make it through the week, but every Sunday when I make my meal I have a friend over for dinner because I enjoy sharing, and she appreciates my cooking.Last year for Christmas some of my friends asked me to make a recipe book with my best/favorite recipes.

I learned to cook when I had my first apartment. I used recipes from a cookbook until I was “good enough” to start making my own substitutions based on my likes/dislikes.

My Mom always let me “help” in the kitchen by getting OUT of her way.

I wanted to learn, but she was too busy making dinner to teach.

So, I taught myself.