Why I Cook

Why do I cook? Michael Ruhlman, chef and food writer, posted his answers to this question and posed the same question to his readers. Here are my answers:

1. I love to eat...not just complex or seemingly exotic dishes, but I find even the simplest tastes and textures bring me immense comfort and pleasure.

2. I want to control what's in my food. I want to know what I'm putting in my body and I don't want it to be junk. It may be calorie and/or cholesterol laden, but it won't be junk. That's not so say that I don't occasionally use a boxed cake or pudding mix or can of soup or the like, but I get to choose what I use.

3. If I didn't, Tom would eat almost nothing but sandwiches.

4. I cook because I always have. I started cooking as a young teen and the oldest of five girls. Both of my parents worked outside the home and my family was a hungry bunch. I started preparing the dinner meal while my mom was at work, then later for myself, then for my husband and sons.

5. I cook for the challenge and creativity. Little is more exciting to me than to order a dish at a restaurant and then try to duplicate at home...and maybe even make it better.

6. I cook because it is a way to give of myself and to share myself with others. It was also another way to connect with my sons when they were growing up and I was teaching them how to find their way around the kitchen. They are both excellent cooks and I feel like I have given them a part of me that will remain with them forever.

So, what is on the menu tonight? Well, I took a small tray of Marinated Ham and Swiss Buns from the freezer and I'll pop those in the oven while I turn about a pound of fresh asparagus into a hot pot of Cream of Asparagus Soup. Add a glass of cold white wine and I'm in heaven.

I'm already hungry.