At what point...

At what point do you start doing something you really hate doing?  I guess it's at the point where you get something out of it that is more pleasurable than the thing you hate about it.  No, I'm not thinking of balancing the checkbook.  We do that because we don't want something more unpleasant, like a bounced check, to happen.  For me the dreaded chore is cooking.  I know there are many of you who love it, well, not me.  I think I mostly hate that all that effort just gets eaten with no lasting evidence that a masterpiece was created.  It literally ends up getting flushed down the toilet and then to add insult to injury another meal has to be made again in a few hours. At least a painter's efforts on canvas can be seen and admired for centuries.  A musician's recording can be listened to over and over, until they invent a new "better" way to store music that forces you to buy that album again. But cooking... so much skill is needed to do it well.  So much mess is made in the execution of the craft. And, to be honest, I'm just not good at it.  So why am I spending more time in the kitchen since my return from France? I used to put on the DIY channel and putter around the house now Food Network and the Cooking channel are the background noise of my days at home. What changed?  I'll let you know when I figure it out.
Today's effort: I made a pumpkin pie from scratch.  I pureed the one that didn't get carved for Halloween and tried out a new recipe, thank you Alton Brown.  I'll let it cook a few more minutes next time.  I also made 16 pounds of applesauce and baked an apple crisp, thank you Betty Crocker.  Well, I couldn't just let the crisp go naked so I made 2 batches of caramel sauce to keep it warm.  I think I'll have to do a whole post on caramel, such a perfect thing, caramel.

Today's inspiration: High school musicals.  All those kids, dancing around and singing... some on key, some not but all having a great time and making great memories.  I'm glad I did that in high school too. Watching the third performance of Little Shop of Horrors tonight made me envy the bravery of those years.  Good job kids! Below is Seymore and the urchins, my beautiful urchin is Chiffon.