Two of my long-standing girlfriends? Oh yeah, they can cook. I have known these girls for 10+ years and, when I was in my “Cooking? Pffft.” phase, they would come over and show me that…well, I was being an idiot. There is a fairly well-worn story about how one of them came over, took one look at my fridge and forced me to sit there and help her clean out the whole thing. She was appalled and rightly so. The other wasn’t going to clean out my fridge, but she was sure going to show me that cooking could be easy and fun.
The Great Fridge Cleaner is the five-course-dinner-party-thrower, the experimenter, the “let’s-throw-stuff-together-and-I-bet-it’ll-be-delicious” cook. The Hot Biscuit can turn any ingredient into magic and loves to try out new items. But her specialty? Baking. We all look forward to our birthdays because we KNOW we’re going to get something home-baked and de-freaking-licious. (Best example: the pony-shaped cake she made for a friend’s birthday earlier this year.) Both women are confident in the kitchen and have, over the years, made some incredibly delicious food. The GFC introduced me to the simple pleasure of edamame and the less simple beef roast; the Biscuit makes the most addictive side dish on the planet: crack dip.
They have extraordinarily different personalities but they do share a love of food. The three of us in the kitchen is a pretty hilarious sight, usually getting in each others’ way (especially in my kitchen, which is annoyingly teeny). But both in their own way inspired me to get into the kitchen and just try it out. Whether it was showing me that a can of tuna could be transformed into something really tasty or how to make chocolate truffles, these ladies know how to be creative and fun in the kitchen…and isn’t that what it’s supposed to be?
Yep, that's a chocolate pony cake.
Food Nurd 
MMMM horse!!!