MARTY COOKS, I WASH DISHES

Marty was in a cooking mood today. And that is just fine with me. He cooks and I come behind him and wash up. First he made an Upside Down Apple Cake. (We were testing the recipe for Cook's Illustrated) Every mixing bowl of every size was dirty. We had an egg bowl, sour cream cup, flour mixture bowl, apple corer and peeler, measuring spoons, apples in lemon water bowl and on and on. But all the dirty dishes were worth it. This is the best tasting cake ever. We will make this again.

Then he wanted to make Hot and Sour soup and Mu Shu Pork. I washed dishes for ever. We had bowls big, little, in between; cutting boards; skillets; pots; knives; spatulas; measuring spoons; cups; chopsticks; and everything else in the kitchen. But the soup was great. It had a sweeter vinegar taste than what we had eaten before. The Mu Shu Pork was good. But not the Mu Shu we expected and prefer. It had too much sesame oil flavor. He made the Chinese crepes and they were good. But again, a lot of dirty dishes.

I have found through the years, Marty loves to prep food. He loves everything in its own little bowl. He will have 10 bowls of assorted sizes lined up ready to pour into a skillet or mixing bowl. I make little piles of food on wax paper or the corner of the cutting board. Neither is a better system, it is what works for each of us.

We had a lovely meal. We ate cake first because we couldn't wait to taste it. Then we had soup, and then the Mu Shu. This little Sunday night meal lasted about 3 hours. We ate, then cooked, and ate, and then cooked. A fun night in the kitchen together.

I published this and then Marty read it. He wanted me to make a few things clearer. He washed dishes also. And he made three very complex dishes from scratch. Anyone would have dirtied up every thing in the kitchen.