What Next?

Last night's Boeuf Bourguignon went well, though the meat was a little dry. I can't be sure if that was from its age or the cut, but I'm not going to sweat it. Cooking for me, as anxious as I get, is about experimentation, and being willing to make mistakes. It's not about being perfect, at least not at this level, because I'm not going to be perfect.

Beef will be dry, gravy will lump, the onions will burn, and I will have to throw them out and start over again.

I will say this, however, the sauce, the veggies, out of this world. I followed the recipe exactly, and used three cups of a four-year-old red Zinfandel from California which was somewhat dry, and a little sweet, and it made for a great base. I did not put in the mushrooms, per my wife's request, though I cooked them on the side and mixed them into my final dish.

So, tonight, I'm not cooking. Heather wants to make one of the kids' favorite dishes, and it does not come from the Julia Child cookbook, if you know what I'm saying, so it will be more pedestrian fare. I'm not complaining. The kids don't want to eat fancy food every day, my wife won't tolerate me taking over the kitchen, and I do have other things going on that require my attention, like a job, coaching, PTO, fixing up the house, etc. Though, how great would it be to just cook, without the whole, having to own a restaurant and never being home on the holidays bit.

Maybe I should be someone's housewife. I will willingly be someone's housewife if they want. I'll clean their house and cook their meals, and they just have to pay me what I make now and give me benefits. I'm absolutely down with that. You just have to fight my wife for me. Good luck. She throws a mean right hook.

But even if I was cooking tonight, I don't know that I'd be cracking open MtAoFC. It's a fabulous cookbook and I'm infatuated with it, but I'm also a huge fan of Chinese and Indian food. I'm dying to have some Chicken Tikka Masala. Like right now. Someone bring me some. Maybe I'll make that in a few days, or maybe I'll crank out some Chicken with Broccoli. The world's too wide and big and wonderful to drill down into a single cookbook for too long. I've got too many other things I want to fry...I mean try.

So, what's next?