The Chef's Hat

My cousin and I must have been 7 or 8 when we took out my cooking kit and hid behind this bright orange leather loveseat in my parents’ sitting room to play “cooking”. I remember we hid in that obscure place because we knew our moms were going to be really mad at us when they found us. We used real water in the plastic pot and even snuck some red food coloring out of the kitchen to make sauce. Of course we spilled everything all over the place, but I swear our make believe meal was amazzzinnng!

I was also always the chicken soup witch. It was years later that Sabrina became a witch; at the time, I was the only one I knew. When someone was sick in the house and my mom made chicken soup she would tell me it wouldn’t be complete until I put my magic over it. She’d hand me the wooden spoon and push a chair close to the pot and help me stir it. I would say my magic spells and pour imaginary potions in it to make the soup heal anyone that was sick. Somehow, it always worked. I learned years later that the magic was love.

I can pretty much say I was born to cook. Seriously, doesn’t the red colored water sauce prove it????? I definitely flop meals or get overwhelmed in the kitchen, but I always have fun. The kitchen feels like home, you know? I am sure some of you do.

Anyway, I wonder where PhillyBoy gets his cooking love and creativity from. His mom is an excellent cook (healthy and delicious, always), but his childhood stories always involve baseball, getting into trouble, girls, camp and ???? I never hear stories about him helping his mom in the kitchen and learning how to do things or finding comfort in baking a batch of something for his friends… I really wonder where it’s from (and hope to find out). I like to think that my passion and love for cooking inspired his, but really he could have been a closet Marty Stewart and I just never knew it.

Who wears the chef’s hat in your relationship? I swear, PB makes the best homemade pizza dough I have ever had, and makes some pretty other delicious things too. (can you say LEMON COOKIES???) I do kind of take control in the kitchen most times though. I am curious to see what happens when we share a kitchen all the time.

All this to preface…. the amazing meal PB made himself last week.

To be continued…