The Kitchen Is My Canvas

I like to cook and I like to think I'm a pretty good cook. This morning I made an omelet (sauteed peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese). Joyce will give me free reign in the kitchen as often as possible because she doesn't really like to cook. That's fine with me. I get to be creative in the kitchen. Do I use recipes? Sometimes I do just to get started, but I don't think I've ever followed a recipe in its entirety. After all, the joy in cooking is the creative possibilities. A cook is just like an artist or a musician, but the work is very temporary and can be eaten.

I love to watch cooking shows and I sometimes fantasize about being on "Chopped" or "The Next Iron Chef". My kids watch them with me and often at the dinner table they say, "Dad, you survive to cook another day." So do you have what it takes to be the Next Iron Chef? Here's a test: Pick three random ingredients out of your kitchen and then make a meal out of them. This is often done for you through natural selection if you're a couple days from payday and the pantry offerings are meager. I say "natural selection" because all the food you naturally like gets eaten first, and then when you're staring hungry into the pantry everything becomes clear. You ask yourself, "Why did I buy all this labor intensive food?" I mean, who wants to soak beans when everybody wants a snack now? Why did I ever buy all those beans when I hate soaking them? As I'm writing this I'm thinking, "Maybe I should go soak some beans right now just to face my fears."

I like to cook, but I like to keep it simple. I've made bread, but that too is labor intensive. I know what you're thinking: Bread Machine. But what's creative about that? If you asked my wife what my favorite way to cook is, she would undoubtedly say it's the with the skillet. If I could only have one thing out of my kitchen I would pick my skillet...and my spatula. Okay, so two things. They are kind of connected. I like my skillet and spatula so much I took a picture of them and put it as the blog header. I rue the day when my spatula breaks, because it is the best spatula I've ever had. "It's a heavy duty Paul Revere" that I got for about $6 bucks at Walmart about 5 years ago. I even went back to get another one, and they stopped selling them. I guess they thought it was too high of quality, so they recalled them all. The skillet is a Log Cabin brand with low sides. I can make just about anything with my skillet and my spatula.

If I was to go on a cooking show, I would take my skillet and spatula. But since you have to cook five courses on Iron Chef, I think I would have to take five skillets and five spatulas. I can hear the judges now...."Wow! He really knows his skillets! Such super skillet skills! And what a spatula!" Well, if you're going to dream, dream big! If you are not a cooker, then I hope you get a skillet and a spatula and begin seeing that your kitchen is your canvas. And if you're not a cooker, definitely don't buy dry beans!

--Johnie