Good Cooker

My grandmother pulled a folded piece of paper from her wallet and handed it to me. I opened it up and found these words: Nana, you are a good cooker. There was also an illustration of her holding a pot. I'd given this to her perhaps 20 years earlier. The truth is, my grandmother was a terrible cook. As a working woman, she didn't have time to search for new recipes or grow her own spices.

My mother wasn't a great cook either. She had enough to do taking care of 5 kids and keeping the house clean. My stepfather was a very good baker, and made wonderful Italian dishes. To this day, I can't knowingly eat tomato sauce from a jar.

I consider myself a fairly good cook. I love food, so I'm strongly motivated to make tasty, interesting dishes. I made eggplant rollatini the other night that was nonpareil. I have an herb garden outside where I'm growing basil, dill, coriander, rosemary and chives.

Last night it was my friend Doug's birthday. We went to his house in PA and I cooked him a birthday dinner. On the menu was: mussels steamed in white wine, garlic and butter, lemon on the side; shrimp scampi over linguine (a simple version, with garlic, olive oil, butter and brandy sprinkled with parsley); asparagus ribbons with dried cherries; and carrot cake.

I know Doug loves asparagus, but I get tired of steaming, roasting, grilling and saucing. I have a bag of dried cherries in the pantry so I googled "asparagus with dried cherries," and came up with a great recipe. Here's the link if you want to try it: asparagus ribbon salad with dried cherries | brooklyn supper
Making the asparagus ribbons is onerous, so I turned it over to my husband. My son suggested he try a cheese slicer, holding the spears flat on a cutting board. This worked much better.

I baked a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Although it was delicious, it wasn't a beauty. I used a time-consuming recipe that involves a lot of sugar. I baked it in the wrong-sized pans and in addition to spilling all over the oven, it was difficult to remove from the pans. Here's the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/blue-ribbon-carrot-cake-with-buttermilk-glaze-176207

Tonight I'm making Le Cirque's Pasta Primavera, which is fairly easy to make. Too much pasta? Never.