However, they came to have it I did not get it. I come from a long line of family members that are great at sewing, cooking and crafting.
Sewing makes me nervous and what little I have done put me barely in the average category, crafting so-so and cooking way down the line.
Cooking is something I must do my own way or I nor anyone else would be able to eat what I fix.
Many times, people have shared recipes with me of food they prepared that was delicious. I follow the recipe to the letter, and it never tastes as good or sometimes not anywhere near what theirs tasted like.
Could it be that I use different brands of ingredients than they do? Could it be they have better quality ingredients than is available to me? I don’t know the answer as to why what I cook never tastes like what tasted delicious when the other people prepared it.
Because of my issue with recipes, I have turned in to what I call a “toss and taste” cook. I get a pot or pan, toss in some meat and just put in what I think will be good with whatever meat I use. I do the same when I make vegetable dishes. Sometimes I will begin with a recipe and remove some ingredients and add others.
When I make stew or soup it is never the same way twice unless by accident because I toss in whatever sounds good at the time.
There are a few dishes that I have concocted that some have told me was delicious. But they have been lucky to have had them more than once if they tasted anything like they did when they had them other times.
I am not one to measure anything either, I go by looks and taste. There are at least three things I have to say that I have almost perfected, and people do enjoy and that is chicken and dressing, cornbread and white gravy.
There is one lemon cake that I can follow the recipe for, and it turns out great every time, but other desserts I can not brag about. I have never had a pie turn out right so I gave up trying on them many years ago.
Does the food turn out right for you by following a recipe or do you have your own way of cooking?
Kickin' It In Granny Gear 
Dan is definitely a toss and taste. I am more of the follow a recipe and measure type. Dan loves to cook. I can cook but would much prefer having a bigger kitchen with a better layout. It is frustrating working without adequate counter space.
I understand having a kitchen with not enough counter space. My kitchen is small with little counter space. When all the children were home it was a chore to cook and clean the kitchen. The counter looks cluttered all the time, but after fifty years it doesn’t bother me so much any more.
Ours drives me crazy. I don’t think I could handle it for another 25 years. 😁
I no longer spend much time in my kitchen and I think that has helped me a lot.
That sounds like a plan. I might even find my waistline if I stay out of the kitchen. 😉
I too come from a long line of great seamstresses and am a lousy sewer myself. As to cooking, I start out following a recipe and then change it up the next time. I love to cook so I guess it comes naturally to me. I don’t do any crafts; it requires way too many “things” and I don’t have the space.
With your busy life I don’t see how you could fit crafts into it even you wanted to. 🙂 I cook so I can eat, I have never enjoyed cooking.
I try recipes, but then change things up. Most of my cooking has no recipe, just what I make. I get requests for recipes all the time and I have to tell people, there is no recipe, I just make it.
That is what I do, just make it. You must do well cooking since you get requests for recipes.