What I Learned From My Mother (and Rachael Ray)

I must begin this post with a disclaimer. I am not a Rachael Ray fan. I am also not a Rachael Ray hater. My biggest beef with her is that she counts in a strange way (more on that later). I must credit her with something however, that has changed the way I cook - or more precisely how I prepare my food.

Years ago, just as good ol' Rach was becoming the next big thing, my mom mentioned her to me. She told me she had watched a few of her shows and thought she was entertaining. Then she told me about the garbage bowl concept. At first I thought, "What a bother. Why not just throw-as-you-go?" Now however, I'm a believer. As I prep most meals, you can find a medium sized bowl on my counter full of food-garbage. It's mostly filled with veggie peels, onion skins and maybe a small wrapper or two. I don't use my garbage bowl to drain cans of food like Rachael does (my sink is not that far away) but it sure is handy for all of the other little bits of stuff. It keeps the mess off of my cutting board and makes clean up so much easier.



Thanks, mom for passing on that great tip to me. It would have taken me awhile to catch on to that one since I don't really ever watch her show.

Oh yeah, and you want to know why I don't like to watch her show? I know it is going to sound ridiculous. When Rachael counts or needs to emphasize the order of things (as in "first we saute the onions in a little EVOO, then we add in the tomatoes and finish off with the salt and pepper") , she starts with her thumb, then her index finger. Who uses the thumb as #1? Everybody knows the index finger is #1. Watch any sporting event in the country. See those big foam fingers waved around by the crazy fans? What finger is pointing up? That's right - not the thumb.

Sorry Rachael. You count funny. But thanks for the garbage bowl idea!