Cooking 101

I love to entertain. I also (kind of) love to cook! I love watching The Food Network and learning new recipes. I wish I had a HUGE kitchen so I had the room to practice new recipes. I wish I had a maid to clean up messes after me. Now, those of you that know me well are probably laughing about the fact that "I love to cook". The moms that I have had in my life are probably laughing the most. You see, I cook well and I can follow a recipe and the food sometimes turns out okay. Sometimes new recipes have to be thrown in the trash and we have to order pizza. I do really well with foods I have cooked over and over again. But.....hard boiled eggs......I don't know what the deal is with them but I CANNOT COOK HARD BOILED EGGS!!!! I actually have a recipe for cooking hard boiled eggs and they never turn out right. When my mom visited at Easter she made hard boiled eggs and they were PERFECT. So a few weeks ago I called her so she could walk me through it and they turned out PERFECT. Last weekend I tried it by myself. Of course I didn't write her "recipe" down on paper, which was my first mistake. They were horrible. Definitely not crack it open and eat it as is material. They became egg salad for sandwiches. So....yet again I get on the phone and ask mom what I did wrong.....and this time I wrote the recipe down. I guess I left out the step about boiling them for 5-10 minutes and then turning the stove off and let them sit. I made the mistake of turning the stove off almost immediately after it came to a rolling boil!!! LOL Guess the part I remember is her saying "boil and turn off - they will continue to cook in the hot water". Hummmmm.......And then, while on the phone with her, as she is uncontrollably laughing at me, she reminds me of the time I was a kid (my guess was I had to be 6 years old) that she told me to put the macaroni in a bowl and cook it in the microwave. So, I did.....yet it burned. She didn't tell me that I needed to put water in the bowl!!! My theory is I must have been 6 when that happened because when I asked Morgan how to cook macaroni (while mom was still on the phone) she said "you put the macaroni in a pan and cook it on the stove and add cheese". That's it, nothing else. So I must have been 6 years old!! But then as Morgan and I were making rice krispie bars tonight she said, "Mommy, do you remember that one time you were cooking and your paper caught on fire?" Ummm, yes - thanks for reminding me. Unfortunately, I am no longer 6, so I can't use age as an excuse!! Maybe this is why when my family comes to visit (usually Thanksgiving and Easter) they offer to bring the meal with them!! Guess I don't blame them! :-)