What makes me a cheater? I call myself a cook although my only training is informal and is based on what I have learned from years of working in my family's various restaurants. Oh, and I ALWAYS use other peoples' recipes. I never trust myself to just do my own version of something I've seen my mother do a million times or something I already know how to make and I don't trust other peoples' recipes no matter how good (or famous) they are. Instead, I kind of mix and match similar recipes from 2 or 3 different pros and steal their ideas, pilfer their creative twists over time and alter things to put my own spin on things. I'm what comedians would call a "hack".
I'm not afraid to substitute, remove or add ingredients 'cause I don't like them, think something else would work better, don't have them in my kitchen or can't find it them the store (or worse, forgot to buy them even though they were on my shopping list--I HATE that). I'm also into making healthy substitutions when making favorite dishes that normally increase cholesterol, caloric intake and decrease usable notches on the belt.
Why am I manic? Ask my mother or my boyfriend. They've been asking that question for years. All I know is that I am. Excitable and quick, I zip around the kitchen like that kid on the street that deserves to be on that yuppie parent's leashed harness. Do I care? ....Eh. And why should anyone else care either? They get to eat my food!
My advice? Stay outta my way, or better yet, outta my kitchen, when I'm cooking--especially a new recipe--I get excited when on a roll and you could get hurt.
I learn from my mistakes and I make them often enough to know what will work better next time and when it's time to grit my teeth on my way to the cabinet where we keep the take-out menus (Plan B on an off night). This blog is intended to share my successes and failures in my quest to get better at a craft I truly love as I tweak out in my kitchen and tweak recipes that I can't wait to try out.
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