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Culinary Reputation

One of the funniest things I have ever heard come out of a kid's mouth is that lunch was her favorite part of the day. That wasn't the only kid to say something to that effect, either. I've heard other kids say some variation of, "this food is awesome" enough times to realize that my mom is a legitimately good cook. It's actually gotten to the point where my mom has a reputation among the parents; they're always excited when she cooks for a function, since they know it will be quality food.

As it turns out, this seems to run in the family. It's just not the same type of reputation.

I've always treated cooking as a bit of a chore. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a good meal, but my criteria for what to prepare have always involved speed of preparation and simplicity. As I like to say, I can cook well enough to stave off starvation. I know this isn't going to impress anyone any time soon, but it's yet to cause me any grief. And it's not like I don't have a couple of simple, go-to dishes that I can throw together if I want something fancier than plain old sustenance.

Funnily enough, that last part was not lost on my family, and my brother, in particular. He called to chat one night, and I mentioned that I was cooking dinner. Without missing a beat, he asked, "lemme guess, you threw chicken in the oven? Or fried up some eggs? I remember in college you'd always cook that." Well, as a matter of fact, no (I threw together some ground turkey and peas). But still, the fact that he immediately jumped to those options cracked me up. Like I said, I seem to have acquired a bit of a reputation.

He has a valid point, though. I think I'm going to have to branch out just a little bit to expand my culinary repertoire. I wouldn't want to be predictable, now would I?
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