Pumpkin's second life

This good little pumpkin made a great cheesecake, and now proudly adorns our front door :o)

Thanks for breakfast!

I just had to interject with this random post because how cool is this - my friend Pepsi just dropped off for me a homemade personal sized 7-Layer (minus one layer) Dip! And 100% chance I'm totally having it for breakfast right now. Well it's almost 10:00 so we can call it brunch! I'm not that into breakfast foods during the week, so most of the time I just wait for lunch or eat it really early anyway so this is right up my alley.

Thank you Pepsi!

My kitchen will be messy again later today - I'm going to roast a chicken and try making challah bread. I wanted to mention that so I don't chicken out posting about the challah if it doesn't turn out well; I'll let you know either way! There is a Chinese chicken and vegetable dish that I still need to post, and I am working on a simple chocolate cream pie recipe. Not ready to post that one yet, it still needs some work (and believe me I don't mind practicing eating chocolate pies so who knows how long this project will take!).

"That moment"

I'm about to tell you a secret. Whenever I cook a dish, there is always one moment when I think I've ruined it. Here are some examples:

I made meatballs tonight, and I thought I'd chopped the onion and bell pepper to big and that the meatballs would fall apart.

When my mom and I made a cake one day, it totally overflowed in the oven and we thought we might have lost it. (Fire was involved, so the "moment" was warranted that time.)

Needless to say if you've read the first posts, the gremolata had a moment.

Every time I make Erol's very runny sunny side up eggs, I think I've overcooked or undercooked them. Same with steaks and hamburgers.

Whenever I bake and am unable to taste before the guests do, I totally have a moment when it goes into the oven, and another when I see the first bite being taken.

When the recipe uses a strange combination of ingredients, like the sausage stuffing, there's a moment.

If I've spent a lot of money on ingredients, there's usually an extra moment.

I find these moments thrilling, and cooking wouldn't be so much fun without them. Maybe this is why I don't have too many ol' standby recipes; I like the excitement of making something new. Some people may be scared, or want to give up, or feel like it's not worth it when moments creep into their kitchens. I guess this is where passion for cooking helps. The point is, push through, keep cooking, and when that moment happens think about your end product, your finished dish or meal. Look at your food, look around your kitchen to get your bearings, and double check your recipe. Read the recipe from beginning to end again. Decide if need to follow the recipe or divert from it. Then just keep going!

And when the cooking's over, here's the most important thing, the thing that will set you apart from most everyone else: NEVER APOLOGIZE, NEVER EXPLAIN. This is the best thing I learned from the Food Network, from Sara Moulton. Her shows are not on anymore, but I think she still is the executive chef for Gourmet magazine. Anyway, this is excellent advice but very hard to follow. It means that whatever happens in the kitchen is what you meant to have happen; however the dish turns out, it is exactly what you planned. At least that's what you want your eaters to think. If you look confident, they will think it's as good as you are presenting it to be. If you question yourself out loud, they will also scrutinize your food and find flaws that they would not notice otherwise.

So, bottom line - to have fun in the kitchen, allow those moments to happen and then let them move on out of your kitchen the way they came in!