Pressure is wierd

I can make dinner for two, or six and sometimes at Christmas, twelve. I can do this with an ease and usually the food comes out just like I want it to. In fact, people I cook for tell me this is restaurant quality. So why is it when I cook one portion of a simple dish, really, how hard are glazed carrots, I sweat a bunch and over salt and under sugar or cook too long or not long enough. It's pressure.

Pressure to make the grade. Look good in the eyes of Chef Wang, my instructor. By the way, this is self-imposed pressure. Probably the worse kind. In sports, it's called choking. In culinary we don't call it choking, that's not a good visual, it's called getting lost in the weeds. I mentioned this before in an earlier blog.

So tomorrow, I have another cooking practical. Four dishes, three are relatively easy, to make in like 2 and 1/2 hours; Green Beens and Roasted Red Peppers with Bacon, Rice Pilaf, Glazed Carrots with Parsley and Duchesse Potatoes. I am refusing to put pressure on myself. There, I said it.

Now, no choking!