Quirky Baking

I didn't know that I was quirky until I got married. I'm not sure why I didn't see my individuality before, but I didn't. I didn't even think that I was quirky until Big Man started to point out some of my little eccentricities. One of them, that drives him batty, is that I rarely, if ever, set the timer when I cook. I almost always put whatever I'm baking into the oven and leave it until I remember to check it. Because I have the power of super-smell, I usually check it when I start to smell it. I seem to recall Julia Child stating that you could tell when something was done when it started to smell wonderful. I don't know if she really said such a thing, or I just made it up to justify my lack-of-timer-setting, but more often than not, I do not burn my food. Yes, there are times when I am very distracted that I will burn dinner, but 90% of the time, everything turns out okay. Big Man, on the other hand, always sets the timer and follows it religiously. If the box says that the pizza will take 20 minutes, the pizza comes out after 20 minutes, whether or not the cheese is completely melted in the middle. However, he has never burned anything, whereas, as previously stated, 10% of the time, I do.

It doesn't take more than a few seconds to set the timer, so why don't I do it? I don't know, myself. Could it be the thrill of discovery? The thrill of checking the food every little bit? Perhaps. Or perhaps I like the risk of possibly burning dinner and having to fix something last minute. Or maybe it's the thrill of pulling-something-out-of-the-oven-at-the-last-minute-to-discover-that-it-is-
cooked-to- perfection? Not sure. But I prefer to think of myself as a creative soul and to me, time is creative and fluid. Time isn't permanent. It changes. It speeds up when I am sitting at my scrap table and it slows down when I am folding laundry. It can be manipulated and adjusted. I like to think that I prove this every time I bake something. I'm not so sure, but I still can't set that darn timer.