David, The Cook

You must meet my husband, David. By day he's an intense physicist, versed in all the sciences, a master of cause and effect. By night he's a first-rate dad, able to throw his infant son giggly inches into the air and demonstrate competence at both adult and baby conversations. In fact, when it comes to most things, David is one of the most highly competent and thoroughly knowledgeable people I've ever met.

But put him in the kitchen, and all that he knows and does deserts him. (desserts him?) David becomes a hazard to himself and everything around him. You'd think someone who could explain lightning to a 5-year old and discuss free radicals with a Nobel laureate could figure out how to boil water, at least by the third or fourth try, but ...

Let me give you just a few examples: