Lessons Learned

Now that we are up to the 32nd state, a note should be made about a few cooking lessons learned from this experience.

Lessons I have learned from Geoff:

(1) Prepare (chop, measure, etc.) all the ingredients prior to beginning the actual cooking. This is, of course, something all good cooks know, but I am always ready to just dive right in and turn on the burner with the Dutch oven and oil ready to sizzle without having the ingredients ready to put in there. I feel like I'm saving time. Anyone who watches the Food Network would know this, right? Well, we don't have cable tv, so I had to learn the hard way.

(2) Read through the recipe the night before. This way you know if you were supposed to soak the beans overnight, or if you will be cooking this chili for 5 hours!! It also helps when Ted asks when the chili will be ready. A question he always asks.

Well, actually I thought I learned this lesson but made a mess of a zucchini and goat cheese bread yesterday when I realized that I was supposed to add the zucchini and cheese before I kneaded it. It happens when there is a recipe inside another recipe that always gets me.

(3) Know your oven/stovetop. You can't just cook that garlic for 2 minutes if it is clearly ready in 1 minute.

Lesson I'm trying to teach Geoff:

Clean up as you go along. Well, since he isn't part of the clean-up process, he just doesn't get it. I'm just grateful that he's such a good cook!! So I'm not complaining.