Not sure why this is happening but it's been gradual and happening whenever he feels like it, but my partner does occasionally invents some complex, gourmet-like dishes. More and more he's making some of this stuff up.

Like yesterday for my b-day:

Prepared me a complicated, but very creative dinner. 1 dish was red wine sauce halibut with basil pesto with pine nuts over saffron baguette rounds and mashed celery root on the side. With a lump of goat cheese in the centre. It was like 3 different tasting meals in 1.

Prior to dish was a carrot cream soup with ginger.
Another dish after the super complicated dish, was escargots sauteed with mushrooms in a white wine sauce folded inside thin pancakes.

I'm not a bad cook and I can make up dishes but seriously, I'm not overly complicated when it means creating something out of my own head!

Trust that your birthday and birthday celebration meal were special.
For me cooking is using what I have in store and what is seasonal.
I tweak recipes..add an ingrediant to a vegetable dish I make if it fits in and if its in the fridge.for example I make a red pepper and sweet potato bake..if I have mushrooms handy in they go..some salmon or chicken.some times I stick to the original recipe
One chef here talks about "bedrock recipes" which means the base recipe and by being inovative using seasonal foods it makes a whole lot of difference to a tried favourite. So Orchid.out of my head...I do just that.

I guess I do have some bedrock recipes which vary according to season veggie (and seafoods) plus whatever is in fridge or what he/I buy. We don't work from very long planned grocery lists ...except for special occasion dinners like last evening. There are alot of meals that are just "made up" based on core recipes. Also alot of mix and match since yes,I do naturally make up stir-fry dishes more easily, while he can make up interesting salads and salad dressings/vineagrettes much more naturally since he's used to latter. I'm not. I just haven't made the effort.

Over the years, I have used new recipes (not many), memorize them and then take off on a creative flight with them over the years. That's how I end up making a dessert focaccia at times.

I started cooking by being asked by mother to watch her. And she never had any written recipes. So it truly was watching and learning by eyeballing, guessing. It is a good way to teach children because it makes cooking task less rigid and appears more fun to a child/teen. Of course, baking is totally different, where mathematical precision is necessary.

For him, his cooking knowledge started from watching his mother which he loved to because she enjoyed telling him stories and bits about what she was doing. He actually showed his ex-wife how to cook (who lost her mother when she was 14).

So he already invents off from a great foundation...from his childhood memory, etc. his mother who died 2 yrs. ago. His brother is similar to him, the love of their mother's cooking, observing and respecting solid cooking technique helps them to each cook.

orchid, sound luscious. What a birthday celebration.

I admit that I follow recipes. Every now and then, I'll step out and be creative, but even then, I begin with a recipe, then switch things up.

My youngest son never uses recipes. He watches the cooking channel so he has a good feel for what spices go together. I bet he and orchid's partner could come up with some really neat dishes for the rest of us to copy.

I have to admit most of my recipes are ones I have invented through hit and miss fooling around. I never wrote down ingredients until coming here and then had to be able to tell others how much of an ingredient to put into it. I am a pinch of this and a drop of that kind of cook, so's my mother and grandmother, who I learned the love of cooking from. So I began paying closer attention to those details. I like to take other peoples recipes too and make them my own by adding, changing or subtracting ingredients...

Well, your son is a joy and will be to any woman's heart in his life later.

It's a delight to have a family member like that.
A few months ago, my partner's son started a contract part-time job...teaching children how to cook! I think the ages would be around 9 yrs. old and up. He already is a chef at a gastro-pub in Toronto, designing the menus, cooking and training staff.