Yes, I am unoriginal.

I confess.

For years, I watched my mother cook, throwing together meat, vegetables, sauces, spices and ate many delicious meals.

When I headed off to college, and then began living on my own, I realized one thing:

I never learned how to cook.

Sure, I can throw things in a pot, and hope for the best.  Usually my "best" became a bland concoction that was almost edible.  I then discovered I'm really good at following directions.

Hand me a recipe, and I'm almost Julia Child.  Just a lot shorter.

I could bake, saute, stew, anything in my limited kitchen space as long as I had exact measurements, cooking times, and a reference picture.

I began reading food blogs, watching cooking shows, subscribing to food magazines, and lovingly caress cookbooks at Borders.  But how do you know if the recipe is actually good?

That is the mission of this blog - to take the recipes we find on the web, books, magazines, newspapers, etc, cook them and give my honest assessment, along with the Mr. Unoriginal Chef's judgement.

I hope you enjoy reading, suggest recipes, and let's recipe hunt and stockpile!

(ok maybe my secondary hope is to get through my recipe stockpile, which grows every single month.)