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Sous Chef

Lately, the Mild Girlfriend and I have been cooking a lot. I don't usually do tons of cooking on my own (as evidenced by my initial reaction to Ceviche Fest), but I can cook a few dishes here and there. I know how to make rice, and I can put a few things together on top of the rice. Basically, I cook well enough to stave off starvation. Frankly, that's usually been the goal.

However, the Mild Girlfriend really enjoys cooking, so she will sometimes want to try out a recipe. I don't particularly feel right just sitting around the whole time if she's busy in the kitchen, so I usually help out. Remember, I can handle the basics of cooking, so I can chop, slice, and mince just fine. That's the best way for me to be useful, so I end up doing a lot of the prep work. I like to joke that I'm the sous chef. Seeing as how there are only two of us, it's not unreasonable to assume that I'm second in command.

It's actually a lot of fun. For one, I get to see all of it come together as actual, you know, food. Plus, it turns into something pretty tasty, so I'm not about to complain. And funnily enough, I've discovered that I like to plate the food. I don't get to be super creative about stuff during the day job, so it's a nice chance to exercise those particular muscles a bit. I'd also like to think that I do a decent job of it, so there's that as an added bonus.

The funniest part about this all, though, comes with social media. The Mild Girlfriend likes to post about some of these creations, including some of the in between prep steps. This lets people see exactly what went in to the food, plus it shows that she actually put in the work from start to finish. Since I've taken to helping her during these escapades, she will tag me in some of these posts. That means that my friends see all of this, and there have been quite a few interesting comments around this all.

  • After one picture of a new dish, one of my friends saw what looked like a tasty brunch. Her question was immediately, "So ... who's spoiling whom?" Like I told her, the Mild Girlfriend is a better cook, so it's very likely that I'm the one being spoiled.
  • My friend's wife commented that she enjoyed seeing all of the food pictures. She happens to be pregnant, so they're quite useful if she's up at 3AM, unable to sleep. However, she did also comment that they always contained the food but had no sign of the two of us (I figure there's no point in photo bombing an inanimate object).
  • Funnily enough, two weeks later, when we did take a picture of the two of us, I made sure to point it out to her. She then admitted that she was living vicariously through the food pictures. Sometimes, I just can't win.
All in all, I think we're going to have to keep up this cooking thing. It's leading to quite a bit of comedy.
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