What's the Secret?

I like to think that I'm pretty decent in the kitchen.  I cook and bake and nobody ever complains.  I try fun new recipes, I make the classics.  And I get the feeling that people genuinely enjoy the food I make for them.

So why is it that when I go to recreate my favorite dishes from home, that they just aren't quite as good?

Today was a perfect example.  My sister came to my house this weekend to help me get it all organized before we have the big family Christmas here.  I keep telling her she should go into business as a personal organizer.  In a matter of about four hours, the kitchen, dining room, living room, and pantry were perfect.  The Christmas trees I bought last weekend were set up, plugged in, and decorated.  Furniture was moved and I had started on the colossal task of sorting out my own room.  In the process of sorting and organizing the pantry, Emily proclaimed that I wasn't allowed to go grocery shopping again until I needed perishable items.  Apparently I have to many jars of red plum jam in there.  

So this afternoon when I started to get hungry, I looked at what I had and thought about what I could make.  I realized that I had all the ingredients for Chuck Wagon Round-Up, one of my all time favorite dishes from when I was a kid.  It's basically a beenie-weenie pie with a sort of cornbread-ish crust.  I know, it sounds kind of awful.  But it's beans and hot dogs and cheese and sour cream: what else could you possibly want?!  It was so delicious tonight, but not as good as I remember.

Another recipe that does this to me is Creamed Beef Cheesy...probably my all-time favorite dish.  It's a cheese sauce with chipped beef served over hot biscuits. Amazing.  But every time I try to make it, I somehow ruin the sauce and end up eating biscuits with butter and jelly.

And then I realized why.  It's because no matter how I try, I will never be able to make anything that will taste as good as when Mom makes it.