Step Back and let the Chef do the Cooking

There are times when a person has to know when to step back... 

... and this time, that person was me. 

One thing I've learned from living with other foodies is that things can't always be your way, especially when it comes to cooking. It took a long time, and a broken relationship or two for me to appreciate something as simple as stepping back and letting the other person take the lead. I guess I'm kind of OCD in that that way.

The good thing about past relationships though, is that you learn (hopefully) from those flaws and failed experiences. With new relationships, you test yourself. You react how you normally wouldn't react, and you do what you normally wouldn't do, and maybe... just maybe, you realize it wasn't entirely their fault.

So I put myself to the test. Last week, one of my good friends from college came into town, and she graciously opened up her swanky bachelorette pad (and kitchen) for David and I to just have at it. If David cooked the dinner, she said, she'd pay for all the ingredients. Pretty sweet trade-off. A free meal of whatever we want to cook, in a gas-stove, kitchen-island, counter-tops-for-days dream kitchen? Ideas swirled in my head of what we could cook. Steak? Risotto? CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN?!?!

But the second we stepped into the kitchen, I saw the look in David's eye. It was like he had just stepped into another world. The whole kid-in-a-candy-store-drooling-on-the-glass kinda thing. He turned to me with big puppy dog eyes, "Babe, look! The oven has a gas salamander!!!" I didn't want to destroy that. 

So I stepped back. I let him plan the menu, do the prep, and cook the food. I told him if he needed help, to just ask, but otherwise I'll let him do his thing. I let the chef be the chef.

I enjoyed a couple (ok, a few) glasses of wine with my girl, all while breathing in the mouthwatering aromas coming from David's end of the kitchen. I didn't cook a thing. 

 

 

And you know what? That meal was worlds better than anything I could have ever come up with.

Appetizer: Pork Tenderloin Crostini with Caramelized Onions, & Parsley Pesto.

Side: Parsley and Garlic Roasted Baby Potatoes.

Main: Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin with Lamb Chops marinated in Red Wine. Roasted Broccolini, Green Onions, and Baby Potatoes. Salad of thinly shaved Fennel and Tangerine segments.

Effing remarkable.