Truth

I shared this over at Just Cook Already but thought I'd share it here, too.

In the past few months that I have been contributing to Just Cook Already, I've experienced so many failed recipes that you'd think I would have given up by now on documenting anything I cook. The truth is, with every recipe I post, there are at least two or three that either just didn't turn out as I expected, were something I'd made before and loved but yikes, what happened this time? Or, it turned out so disastrous that my husband took one bite and stalled, trying to figure out how to proceed in a tactful manner. Like the chicken adobo I made last week that seemed more like salty soy sauce soaked chicken than something that was supposed to be gourmet. Is that how it's supposed to taste? Or like the pasta salad I've made dozens of times but somehow this last time it ended up so dry and bland that trying to doctor it up only made it worse. It sat in our fridge for a week, taunting me every time I opened the door until I finally sighed and threw it out. I hate wasting food (see Mom, you did teach me something). Or, like the flourless chocolate torte I recently made. How could I go wrong? The pictures online looked gorgeous and the recipe looked totally doable. I knew I had to make it the next time we had guests for dinner. But when we all took our first bite, the overly dense and sickeningly sweet torte made me mortified that I had served it to anyone, let alone people I actually like. I knew it was a failure when even my sweet toothed three-year-old pushed it away.

So, I give kudos to all those amazing food bloggers out there. Because behind the scenes, I know is probably a messy kitchen, major stress, and possibly even a few failed attempts before the impeccable looking piece of art that is shown as the final result.

Someday I'd love for my kitchen to look this blissful and have everything turn out perfectly:

But the truth is, I kind of like it the way it is:

Even if a recipe doesn't turn out, I've got a little team of helpers on my side who don't care if it gets published or not, don't care if what I make isn't perfect and who make being in my kitchen fun no matter what.