My father-in-law was a baker in the Navy back in WWII. I am in awe in what he was able to accomplish in the tight space and time frame he was given. At that time they baked all the bread that was eaten on the ship, all the pies, cookies, cakes were made from scratch and fresh. He learned his craft from the Navy.

He doesn't take kindly to my husband talking about how he LOVES what I cook/bake--how it's the best.. yum yum.. DH does tend to go on too much at times, I've poked him to stop.

Well, today DH calls me all excited that his father actually wants one of my recipes. WHAT??!???? The man will hardly acknowledge I know the difference between an oven and a sink, let alone ask for a recipe. He "needs" my pie crust recipe. You see, he too has fallen victim to the trans-fat free Crisco. He says his pie crusts now turn out awful. My husband, on several occasions has told him how good my pie crusts are.. I'm sure the old guy has been rolling his eyes and swallowing the bile that rises in his throat.

My DH tells me that FIL made a pie the other day with a commercial pie crust and that was awful, so he guesses he needs my recipe.

I quickly check the weather report for HE**--nope no freezing rain predicted!! I'm underwhelmed... DH can't understand why I'm not dancing on the ceiling because of the request. I explained to him that FIL exhausted every possible avenue before he had to admit maybe he should try mine.

Remember the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Marie glues a label over another spice and gives it to Debra to make a recipe?? Evil laugh... do I dare??

That's too funny.

You're nicer than me. I wouldn't give it to him unless he asked me directly.

Until he asks you directly i would so change an ingredient or amount!!! ok so maybe i wouldnt but i would think about it lol

Oh, just give him the pie crust recipe for crying out loud. It's not like you invented it, did you? People have funny ways of ackowledging to us that they accept and approve of us. Older men are generally not great about saying things to women like:

You're right
You do that better than I do
I was wrong

Let him save face and have a decent pie before he dies!!

P.S. I really, truly hate the passive-aggressive "change an ingredient" thing. If you don't share recipes, just say so. Don't let me waste ingredients and time making something awful. That's just ugly.

That's funny. At least you know he knows you're good. And now HE knows you know he knows.....that's probably punishment enough.

But just think, if you give him the recipe...every time he makes a pie you can say "mmm, this is good, did you use my pie crust recipe again?" with an evil grin .

I luv Raymond's mom!

that is funny, thanks for sharing.