A long time ago, in a kitchen far, far away…

I have to look no further than my own kitchen. Over the years, I have soured a bit on going out to eat.

• It’s expensive
• Sometimes, the service (or the food) isn’t great.
• It’s rarely healthy.
• Did the cook and server wash their hands???

I’m not a gourmet cook by any stretch of the imagination, but I do ok. Actually,  my hubs mentioned to me just yesterday that my cooking skills have improved a great deal since we got married a few years ago. He quickly added that I was already a good cook when we met.

Good call, Hubs. Good call. 😉

I’ve learned a few good techniques, like how important it is to pat your meat dry if you want to sear it, when to preheat a pan (or not), how to make a roux, and the most efficient way to chop vegetables.  Seriously, it used to take me forever to dice an onion.

Like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets. I encourage everyone to learn how to make a few dishes from scratch. They will be lower in sodium, lower in fat and waaayyyy cheaper!

Now, do I never go out to eat? Of course not! It’s nice to have a break from cooking and clean up. There’s a great little slider bar in town that the hubs and I frequent, maybe twice a month. Our favorite is their PB Jamming slider. It has cheese, bacon, peanut butter, and jelly. It sounds weird, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I’ve always loved mixing sweet and savory, so this is some serious yum for me.

My all-time favorite place goes to a dive that closed its doors in 2006 – Thano’s Lamplighter Restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI. They were a Greek restaurant, but other than saganaki, I only ever ordered their pizza. It was sooooo good! My friends would joke about how the pizza would actually descend from the heavens to the table on a beam of light while a host of angels sang.

Was it really that good? That’s how I remember it, and that’s all that matters. 😉