YAN CAN COOK, CAN I?

Long before there was a FOOD NETWORK or a COOKING CHANNEL there were chefs featured on PBS.

Most notably, there was Julia Child. If you have not seen the Dan Akroyd SNL spoof as Julia Child, you must pull it up on the web. There were other chefs such as Justin Wilson, a Cajun cook from New Orleans and Martin Yan with his Asian inspired recipes.

I was a hot mess in the kitchen even before I became a new bride. The first attempt at a hamburger included a frying pan, a cup of water and the lid for the pan. I boiled it for awhile and when I thought it was cooked, I had a white solid object of lump ground meat. My culinary cuisines were anything but supreme.

Amazingly, DH still married me.

I had to call a BFF from high school to learn how to make mashed potatoes. These were the pre-You Tube years. She began at the part where you mash the potatoes, add the butter, milk and season. I had to roll her back to the beginning. Boil a pot of water, take a potato, peel and slice it. I was nowhere near the lesson on mashing. That was a lesson for later in the day!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Make more mashed potatoes than you need because they can be frozen, used later in the week with another meal or as an expander in “cream of potato and something” soup. Remember to cook once and eat twice! Here we have cream of potato and broccoli soup!