ADD Chefery

As much as Jen sometimes drives me crazy, I can't hold anything against her because she cooks my food.

Jen is an excellent cook, which I believe is partly due to her ADD, since cooking requires multitasking, improvisation, problem solving, and creativity.

Also, I can't cook, and I've given up trying to learn. So Jen is in charge of meals.

For the most part, we eat local, farm-fresh food, which is not as difficult to obtain as it sounds (try localharvest.org). After years of cooking, Jen still gets excited about working with high-quality ingredients, and she loves comparing products from different farms.

When I was growing up, my mother rotated the same dinner recipes week after week. So did Jen's mom. But because she's a "chef" with ADD, Jen's cooking never lacks variety. The only thing she makes more than once a season is chili. Every other meal is either making its debut on the table or was a big hit the year before.

Cooking itself gives Jen an outlet for her creativity, which every ADDer needs. ADD chefery is not without its pitfalls, though. There was the time Jen made blueberry pork chops. The recipe called for cranberries, but the store didn't have any, so Jen got blueberries instead. Not her finest moment in the kitchen, but at least we laugh about it now.

This is just one of the reasons I'm grateful for Jen's ADD. If she were a less creative chef, dinner would be really boring. Is your ADDer a good cook?

Orders are now being accepted for Jen's new book, Odd One Out: The Maverick's Guide to Adult ADD. Reserve your copy today!

Comments

[Attentive]

Hell no. Far from it. My ADD'er refuses to cook simply because it requires too much mental focus. Plus the fact that she's easily distracted, which means burning oil left on the stove tends to get forgotten about until the flames and smoke become too much to not notice.