These Carrots Taste Funny
My mother never really liked to cook. She would have been deliriously happy had she been able to do take-out or dine-out her entire life, I think.
It might have had something to do with cleaning up after a meal; she hated it. Even though my sister and I would often wash the dishes, she was still left with the general cleanup, like putting away the leftovers and wiping the counters and stove.
After I left for college, my parents moved into an apartment with a dishwasher. Mom was like a different person in the kitchen. While I was still at home, Mom ALWAYS burned the carrots. It became a family joke, perpetuated by my sister and me. After getting modern cleanup appliances, her cooking improved dramatically.
My wife is a brilliant cook. She was devoted to her cookbooks until her multiple sclerosis limited the amount of energy she could devote to cooking. She still has her extensive cookbook collection, and she subscribed to the best cooking magazines such as “Epicurious” and “Eating Well” for years.
She went on a quest to prepare a full meal from every region of the world. She didn’t quite make it, but she got pretty close. I enjoyed hundreds of wonderful and exotic meals over the years.
I do most of the cooking now, because of the MS, but she still cooks on occasion. I consider my culinary skill to be a work in progress. My wife provides expert advice when the need arises and I try to learn new tricks when they cross my path. The internet is a valuable tool for chefs these days.
We had been married a month and, because of a mix-up by the City of Los Angeles, I hadn’t received a paycheck. Our cupboard was almost bare. For some reason, we had lots of carrots, so my wife of one month cooked carrots for supper. I took one bite and exclaimed jokingly, “These carrots taste funny.”
She took a bite and said indignantly, “They taste fine to me.”
“They still taste funny,” I said.
“Why?” she asked.
Laughing, told her, “They aren’t burned. My mother ALWAYS burned the carrots.”
Rich Jordan of Arcata sometimes burns the carrots and feels nostalgic when he does.
