For the past several years I have taken over as the primary cook for our household. It happened not because Linda isn't a great cook, she is excellent, but because I mainly watch cooking shows and I wanted to try my hand at several things I saw.
My experimentation became my new role and I've run with it ever since. There are still many things that Linda makes a million times better than me, spaghetti and meat balls being at the top of the list, and she will make those occasionally.
For all the improvements I've made as a chef I still have one nemesis. Baking.
I try and try yet nothing ever turns out just quite right. Part of the charm for me of cooking is the freelance side of it. A little of this and a little of that and suddenly you have something pretty tasty. Baking requires precision and if you know me you know I am not a precision guy. However, I keep on trying knowing that it is likely not going to turn out.
This week I decided that I needed to make banana cream pie. Honestly, how hard could it be. I found a recipe that was easy and I followed it exactly and this is what I got.
It looks decent and it tasted pretty good too. (One piece missing as a quality control portion. Don't you dare judge me.) Everyone said they liked it and of course we do what we usually do when we have things we shouldn't have in the house, we devoured it in three days.
The after picture shows how it did not hold together and kind of collapsed in the tray. Linda said it was because the recipe called for whipped cream to be added to the pudding which eliminated the hardening factor. I think it was the baking gods telling me to stay the hell away from sugar in the kitchen.
I have now proved to myself that I really suck at making cookies, pie, cupcakes, and I am just slightly below average at cakes. Sheet cakes, forget layered cakes. Sigh. Every time I get a wild hair to try to bake something I am sure it will turn out to be a masterpiece and instead I get what you see above.
I am going to stick with my strengths going forward.
