Do you enjoy cooking?

Bon jour!
I am posting this because last night we had company for dinner. Our friends (actually they are electrical guys who installed our garden lights and were coming over to check their installations) arrived around dusk and since it was still a bit light in the western horizon, I offered a glass of Stonyhill chard. We all enjoyed it and made a toast to the democrats! Hooray! Anyhow, when it got darker (for them to see if the light setting is right for effect we all wanted to achieve) I resumed my cooking. BTW, I boought everything from my favorite (used to - but now I hate it because their parking space is soon to be a high rise, that is going to be another posting) Fox and Obel on Illinois Street. I prepared a simple dish as an entree of pan-seared fresh sea scallops served with sauteed wild mushrooms and my main course was braised short ribs served with baby patty pan squash and zucchini. So what's the big deal? Here is: First they were very appreciative of us serving dinner and second, one wanted my recipe. Well, I said that I seldom use recipes. I only use one for 2 occasions: when baking and when trying a new dish I have never made before. So, how many among are like me?

This brings me back eons ago when I first attempted to bake. At that time, I was in Medical School in Manila and my very close friend Guillaume Lauzon introduced me to it. His recipe, out of a can label, tah-dah - upside down cake (UDC). I watched him a couple of times making it and then it was my turn. Well, in the process, it almost turn out to be upside down cake - on the floor! Honestly! At that time too, I had 2 nieces and a nephew (who were all in their grade school years) who enjoyed anything sweet. Almost every weekend, they asked me to bake my UDC which I gladly did. One can just imagine all the squeaking of 3 kids while I was baking. Well, everytime I shopped for my UDC, I had the convenience of having the recipe right on the label of the pineapple can. I made it so often that, eventually I could do without a recipe. So my point is, I do use recipes when baking - which to me is a science. On the other hand, a risotto is an art! The first time I cooked risotto, I used
the venerable Marcella Hazan's basic recipe. BTW, she and the late Julia Child are my cooking "mentors" meaning, I use their book a lot for techniques and recipes. And by the way, I got to meet both of them while they were visiting Chicago (and I have photos to prove it). So, as I keep making risotto, I started tweaking it, or adding different ingredients and the key to cooking without a recipe is as Ms. Child used to say, "keep tasting it". It works - all the time! And always remember, use fresh
ingredients! Fox and Obel has it!

Tata for now, merci au revoir!

http://www.fox-obel.com/index.asp
http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0063.htm