kitchen disaster

I've lost my touch in the kitchen. Each time I try to make some “American” dish, I am disappointed. The pecan pie that was so beautiful on the outside turned out to be soup when we dug into it last month. Something wasn't quite right with the wacky cake I made for the end of the year barbecue, and now the first time I try to make hamburgers to impress two hungry Frenchmen, I fail. I don't know what the missing ingredient was, nor if they'd have turned out any better had I had a proper grill. But give me a French recipe these days, and things turn out just fine.