Breaking From Taxes to Talk About Cooking

"If you are what you eat, then I only want to eat the good stuff." - from Ratatouille

My mom made breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I'd do my algebra homework to the scent of bean soup and freshly baked bread.  Our mac and cheese was always homemade.  So naturally, by the time I moved out, I knew how to follow a recipe and make a meal.  And it was when I was cooking for myself tht I really learned to cook.


In our little kitchen with the ugly floor, my friend Beth and I would make food to our hearts' content.  And I realized that cooking means eating what you want.  Suddenly, I prefered my own food (or Beth's!) over most of what I could get at a restaurant. 

It's still true. 

For instance:
I've never really cared for ketchup.  So when I cook hamburgers, I halve cherry tomatoes and let them roast in the oven while the burgers are grilling.  Then, I mash the tomatoes with a fork and put them on my burger.  Oh, and I prefer burgers made from bison.  And with blue cheese.  With a side of carrot sticks. 

Jenn on Cooking Counts did a post on creating hibachi shrimp at home.  I tried it tonight.  Not only was it a fraction of the calories and half the cost: I got to make it exactly the way I like.  Lots of squash, even more onions, and slightly overcooked shrimp.  Matthew told me it was better than any restaurant hibachi. 

 I thought so too.

What do you make that is better than anyone else's?