Tales from a Failed Food Channel Fan
Like many of you, I watch a lot of cooking shows. I love the professionally-edited ones on Food Network and the artsy ones on the Cooking Channel, and I even catch a few on the weekends on PBS. Even though I don’t necessarily use too many of the recipes from these chefs, I always feel inspired to rev up my cooking repertoire when I see them.
My husband is a sweetheart – especially when it comes to my attempts at being Katy’s version of the Pioneer Woman or the chefs on those challenge shows. How do they decorate cakes taller than me in a few hours? How does she make a week of meals out of one day of cooking? How does he know when to flip those burgers on the grill and still keep them juicy? I shout out these questions, and my husband listens as all responsible husbands do.
“Where are the pineapple pork chops?” he asks when I set before him grilled cheese and tomato soup. “Didn’t work out right,” I answer.
“Oh. Well, I like anything you make me. Thank you for a lovely dinner.” And he means it! One time I bought some frozen tilapia to use in a Bobby Flay recipe. Somehow, my fish ended up tasting, quite literally, like dirt. I couldn’t serve them. (It was reminiscent of the time I tried to make the Barefoot Contessa’s Irish Soda Bread one March. More flour ended up on the floor and on me than in the dough. He told me the bread was just delicious.)
Anyway, I thought of those quick-thinking chefs on Chopped and ran to the pantry, opened up some black beans, and began heating some frozen peppers. I prayed we still had some tortillas left (we did!) and then magically microwaved cheese over nachos. My husband loved that just as much as he would have loved Bobby’s tilapia.
So, it doesn’t matter if you can make 10 meals out of one or if you can manage to homeschool, blog, take wonderful photographs, write cookbooks, and still get a scrumptious dinner out each day. I think as long as you can manage to get a dinner on the table most days, your family will appreciate you. Of course, we keep plenty of take-out menus on hand for days when even a home-cooked dinner is too much to ask for!
Do you enjoy or revile cooking shows? We’d love to hear from you about your Katy cooking adventures!
