I'm talkin gourmet here, not eggs, bbq, etc.
I'm making 2-3 gourmet meals a week, suffice it to say my wife is happy to get out of the kitchen and i've been getting a lot more sex
However the primary thing i'm learning here is that it's very anti-climactic.
For example, i just made a Pan-roasted striped bass with wild shitake mushrooms, potato gnocchi, and tarragon-reggiano cream sauce out of Emeril's book with a fine pino gris.
It took me 3 hours and 10 minutes from start to finish. It took my wife and i 15 minutes to eat it. It will take at least an hour to clean up.
The *ACT* of cooking is the fun part for me, severe mutli-tasking, learning something new, creating at the same time, it's so much fun!!
I guess what i'm asking is, is anybody else here learning/learned to cook gourmet cuisine, do you do it often? do you have books that you like a lot? What do you do to extend the pleasure after the meal?