I tell ya, this is every girl’s dream… Imagine a handsome, funny, intelligent, charming guy, good with kids and critters, a hard worker who comes home from his job as systems administrator for a major hotel chain and geeks out in his spare time because he likes it, honest to a fault, believes in relationships as partnerships… AND HE COOKS, too!!! Not just the simple stuff, either. Not only that, but he works culinary miracles using only a microwave/convection oven and a grill. Let me explain…

The DH and I have a tidy little apartment in Randers, which is in the upper-middle part of Denmark. Since we bought the place in November of last year, the DH has been working on redoing it to better suit us, new floors, fresh paint, and a new kitchen. As it was mainly just him for the first six months (with invaluable help from his two marvelous sisters, their spouses, and his BFF), things have moved slowly but forward. Now that I am home, we’ve made a bit more progress, including much headway in the kitchen. However, a few things still remain to be done, including a countertop, and installation of the stove and oven. So, for the past few months we have been improvising. One of our wedding gifts was a lovely huge grill, so we’ve done quite a bit of grilling, finding out that there’s a lot that can be done that way, and new ways of seasoning to keep things interesting. Combined with the microwave/convection oven, we have been producing cutthroat cuisine that, I believe, could win awards for the tastiest improvisations whipped up without using a standard stove. All courtesy of my DH.

Why is that? Simple… I don’t cook. Not that I can’t, or that I don’t know how to come up with recipes, but I really don’t enjoy cooking. I enjoy the end results, as evidenced by my plush figure, but trying to come up with ideas, making the effort to time everything out, just the effort of cooking, is beyond me. Given a recipe and ingredients, I can whip up fairly credible edibles… but the DH has gone above and beyond, producing some amazing dishes. The things you can do without a stove – truly impressive.

So, if you find yourself wanting to try something a little different, check out the Culinary Improv page. You might find something you like… and you don’t even need a stove. And thank my DH for being adventurous in the kitchen, and being willing to work with a wife who dodges cooking duties whenever she can, in favor of going on endlessly about the wonderful man she married in these virtual pages.