1st meal down! Pancakes and Bacon and the difference between baking soda and baking powder

So I went for an easy one today, using the "Can't Cook Cookbook" and making Lemon Ricotta pancakes. Or at least I thought they would be easy...Who would have thought that making pancakes could be so difficult... My first mistake was not understanding the difference between baking soda and baking powder. Luckily my wife was on hand to help me out and show me what I should be using in my recipe. After finishing cooking breakfast, I did a little research and found out all I needed to know about baking powder and baking soda from Serious Eats. It's a surprisingly good read.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/what-is-the-difference-between-baking-powder-and-baking-soda-in-pancakes.html

The pancakes were a hit, who knew using a little lemon zest in pancakes could make them taste so good. My kids said they were "the best pancakes ever" which immediately put me into the doghouse with my wife...  For some reason whenever I cook my kids love my food, I guess it's because it is such a novelty, I rarely get in the kitchen and when I do it's to cook something simple like Ramen or Grilled Cheese. I am hoping to change that by learning different techniques and skills in the kitchen. My wife is absolutely incredible in the kitchen and it's the least I can do to help out and try to become a better cook. While this seemed like a easy plan to make Pancakes and Bacon I ran into some difficulties, so on with the Lessons learned...

Lessons Learned:

I need to be a little more organized as I made quite a big mess, my wife came behind me and cleaned up but hopefully this won't be a regular issue for me.

The recipe I used was a bit thick, so based on advice from my wife, I used additional milk to thin it out and they became much better.

The first few pancakes were a bit raw in the middle, I need to make sure they aren't so thick so they cook evenly.

Bacon is so easy to make in the oven, allows you to "set it and forget it" and not have to worry about paying attention to it while cooking other items on the stove.

Tonight I ended up cooking dinner as well, but I will leave that story for another post. Until next time...

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday to my wife, and how this got started!

Before I get started I figure I might as well discuss how I decided to do this blog and why. I am 39 years old , married for almost 15 years and I have two kids, ages 10 and 7. My wife's birthday is December 25th so she has had to share the holidays with her birthday for her entire life which doesn't exactly thrill her.I always have a hard time finding something to do or get her both both Christmas and her birthday as I want to celebrate both occasions with her separately.

 I have very limited experience in the kitchen, even before I got married I lived off microwavable food and the Army dining facility. My wife is a wonderful cook so I never had the desire to learn to cook myself but every so often she would give a hint that she would like me to help out more with the cooking. Of course being the typical guy I basically ignored her and continued to let her cook. Occasionally I helped out and cooked my specialty...(scrambled eggs and toast) but more often than not I left the burden on her and stayed away from the kitchen.

This year though my wife purchased 2 cookbooks (The Can't Cook Book by Jessica Seinfeld, and Michael Symon's 5 in 5) and an apron for me. I took the hint, so once I opened the books and started looking inside I figured out the best birthday gift I could give her is to cook a full meal at least once a week and help out in the kitchen other times as well. My wife immediately expressed her doubts about whether I would help out so much, so in the words of Barney from How I Met Your Mother... "Challenge Accepted"

My ultimate goal is to make 100 meals for my wife(Monica) prior to her birthday next year with me ultimately cooking Christmas dinner for her next Christmas  But I figure, what journey is complete  without documenting it, so that's where the blog comes in. I plan on documenting my journey from absolutely horrible in the kitchen to at least mediocrity if not even better... I may be a novice in the kitchen but between all of the cooking shows I watch with my wife, the cookbooks she purchased for me, and the Internet, I should be able to cook some decent food and might learn a few things along the way! Thanks for joining me on this adventure...wish me luck!