Comments on: Confessions of an Alpha Cook http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/ Cook Local, Eat Global Wed, 29 Aug 2012 23:26:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Barbara http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16974 Barbara Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:19:13 +0000 http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16974 Nika–I am glad to know that another blogger picked this story up! I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t more mentioned out in the foodblogosphere, because it is still one of the most emailed articles from the recent editions of the NY Times. It is making ripples out there among readers all over the country and probably the world.

It is great to hear from everyone–and I hope to hear from some more folks on this story. It is fascinating to see how others negotiate the shoals of cookery in their own kitchen domains!

I wanted to say, though, that one great thing happened as an upshot to this post–Zak wants to learn how to cook again. He has been cooking scrambled eggs in the morning for the two of us, and as a result his confidence in his own abilities is returning. So, he said, he wanted to learn to make other simple dishes so that I don’t have to be the sole cook in the house, especially now with Kat breastfeeding exclusively, and when she has a growth spurt, nearly continuously. (It is really hard to cook with a baby at the breast. It is just a thing. However, with the help of a new laptop/reader’s desk, I have found that I can write with her on my lap eating. WOOHOO!)

He also stated he wanted to learn to cook Indian food. I am thrilled! I am also certain that I am better able to teach him, now that I know where I went wrong.

I also wanted to answer a few comments personally–Karl–I am honored to cook with you and for you in any capacity, even if there have been times I have cooked in your kitchen and told you to get out. (Those would be for dinner parties I was giving in Miami, and using Karl’s kitchen as a base, as it is hard to move a kitchen from Ohio to Miami. It just doesn’t fit in a carry-on bag very well.) When you are cooking in your kitchen, however and all I am doing is helping, I am pleased to let you take charge. Even if you are sloppier than I am…… ;-)

Bry–I -can- be like a combination of Ghengis Khan and Julia Child! It is true. It is just also true that you have a thick skin about such things.

You are also correct–while I may grit my teeth and generally growl through them if I am in the midst of a stressful cooking situation, I tend to act professionally. Tantrums are beneath the dignity of a professional, and I will not have them. Besides, cooking knives are not meant to be thrown….. ;-)

]]> By: Dave http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16768 Dave Mon, 19 Feb 2007 03:38:43 +0000 http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16768 I confess, both I and my wife are Alphas. When she cooks, I stay out of the kitchen and vise-versa. Besides, our kitchen is really too small for two people to operate in comfortably anyway.

]]> By: plume http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16655 plume Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:01:47 +0000 http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16655 I’m not sure about me…
I think I can be quite alpha, not wanting anyone in my kitchen when I cook, but actualy I live with a former profesional cook…
My speciality is baking and vegetarian cooking, and his is meat so we complete each other well.
I do the everyday cooking generaly, but when he is cooking I’m glad to help him and learn if I can.

]]> By: Karl http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16483 Karl Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:26:18 +0000 http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16483 It is an honor, as your father-in-law, to be beta to your alpha. At least when I am in my own home I can be the alpha and that is all that really counts

]]> By: Robbin http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16089 Robbin Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:07:34 +0000 http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/02/14/confessions-of-an-alpha-cook/#comment-16089 Well…
I was thinking all the while you were writing, “Well, which am I?” My husband would say that he is the Alpha chef and I am the Alpha patisserie. He never tells me how to make a dessert. But I don’t think it’s all that simple in our kitchen. For all our power struggles in our relationship, the kitchen is the one place that we come into harmony. We both recognize our strengths and weaknesses and we let the other shine, happily. He is a sauce making god and I bake and soup like no one’s business. He is more precise and he stir fries exquisitely.

In our case the kitchen does not exacerbate the problems in our relationship, it glorifies the good in our partnership.

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