In the year 2000, I began writing recipies down as I experimented with cooking for one. I had been cooking for myself since college but was less adventurous back then. However, upon attempting a baked potato my freshman year of school, I called mom to ask how long it would take. I was annoyed with the potato when her response was an hour, challenging mom with, “not 20 minutes?” She laughed, no. “But every time I asked when dinner was ready, you’d always say 20 minutes.” This conversation birthed the Not-So-20-Minute Cookbook, which grew with four or five recipies a year as I added them on mom’s birthday. I’ve decided with this pub- lication to end that decade-old project on the occassion of mom’s 60th birthday. Happy birthday mom. You are my in- spiration not just in the kitchen, but in everything.