BLOGS ARE STUPID

For the past several years I have been known to say that Blogs are stupid. In fact I've even said that bloggers are losers who either:

a) Have too much free time and nothing else better to do
b) Are so narcissistic they want everyone to know about everything they do
c) Think they have something to say that is so important that we all need to know about it
d) Think it will advance their careers by blogging about something work related

So you might be asking "why would you write a blog?" and this would be an excellent question.

To understand the answer lets hop in the wayback machine and begin in 1983 when my parents were divorced. After a while my sister and I went to live full time with our mom. Dr. Mom is not much of a chef (and I'm being nice cause I love you mom). I've even heard her say that she became a Dr. so she wouldn't have to learn how to cook. Add to that she is/was a busy Dr. and we didn't often have the stereotypical family dinner from a Rockwell painting. By the time I was in 8th grade it became apparent that if I wanted to eat more than a can of chef boyardee ravioli I was going to have to learn to cook it myself.

In 9th grade I signed up for home economics class and learned a few recipes that became the foundation for my cooking enthusiasm (chicken cordon bleu, veal/chicken parmesan, pancakes, eggs, etc). Suddenly a whole new world was open to me. I started with simple things like omelets (my mom had one of those omelet pans from the 1970's), hamburgers, sandwiches etc but soon learned that making "fancier" items wasn't so much difficult as it was learning some simple techniques (which I found out I could repeat with other dishes). I learned that most things taste better with a good sauce. I learned how to operate the grill and the right/wrong way to grill steaks. Mostly I learned that I love to cook.

By the time I got my driver’s license in 11th grade mom and I had a deal that if I would do the weekly grocery shopping I could buy pretty much anything I wanted. I regularly brought home things like tiger prawns, aged cheeses, Asian spices and other not-the-norm dinner materials.

Then in 1992 I met the love of my life whom I married in 1998. It must be true that we are attracted to people like our parents because like my mom the Mrs. isn’t into cooking much either. In her defense she has become a much better chef over time (partly because we like to cook together) but its certainly not on the top of her "things I like to do" list. To this day I do 90+% of the cooking in our family.

In 2004 the second love of my life was born (Maddy) and soon thereafter I found out how much fun it is to cook with her. She is always asking me to help with dinner or to make cookies (I think that might be more about the cookies though). For the last 5 years Maddy and I have cooked everything imaginable. Some good - some not-as-good but always we have fun doing it.

My issue with cooking is that professional chefs have a system for everything that keeps their kitchen's neat. Lets just say this is not my strongest suit. To the point that the Mrs. started calling me "The Messy Chef" a moniker I wholly embrace. Invite me over to your house and I'll cook a great meal as long as I don’t have to clean it when I'm done. I also figured out that when cooking with kids getting messy is part of the fun. Maddy is always asking me for flour she can play with while we cook and I'm happy to oblige.

So the answer to why I would create a blog even though I think most blogs are stupid is that I want everyone to cook with their kids. It’s a great teaching forum for math (2 teaspoons of this, 1/3 of a cup of that). It’s a great way to bond with your kids. It’s a great way to teach your kids to cook for themselves. It’s just plain great.

I hope that by writing this and sharing my recipes and stories from cooking with Maddy and other kids that you will be inspired to do the same with the kids in your life.

See I told you blogs are stupid.