When I cook, one of two things happens when something doesn't taste right.
First: Disgust and rejection
Second: Salvage the food! (which usually happens when it's the only food in the house)
During this stage I attempt to apply what years of watching the Iron Chef should have inadvertently taught me: How to add seasoning. In my case, this entails making it taste better by not-so-judiciously dumping selections from the wide array of spices that I've accumulated from past roommates who have left them behind into the would-be-meal. The concoctions end up with things like cumin, which is something I don't really know how to pronounce let alone use, combining with chili powder and half a can of olives that I found in the fringe. At this point, I'm usually starving and will throw just about anything into the food in the hopes that each additional additive will solve the issue. It results in something even more disgusting then I started with. But, as I already mentioned, it's the only morsel remaining that could have become a meal, so I either eat it and hope that each bite doesn't get steadily worse, or I make myself a peanut butter-and-honey-sandwich-of-shame as a token to my ineptitude.
Husband is different. He carefully smells every spice before choosing which ones go in the food beforehand. It's like watching a real Ratatouille at work, minus the rodent. Though his additions of spices go unmeasured and seem as erratic as my own, his gift for smelling and combining complimentary ingredients usually turns out fantastic.
When it doesn't he sits and plots the next attempt, reworking what was arguably an acceptable dish to begin with into utter culinary perfection...or as close as a newlywed budget allows. For instance, tonight he thought of two very different ways to perfect the spaghetti squash that didn't taste quite right, but was much more ostentatious than the macaroni and cheese that I assumed would have became our common fare.
I'm glad that one of us can cook. I'll stick to baking. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie.
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