So....I've been reading a lot of recipes over the past few days. In fact, I just finished thumbing through 2 cookbooks while I sit here at work.....both books are filled with recipes for ice cream, sorbet, granitas, and other such things that one would like to serve with ice cream. Some interesting ideas in there...glad that I bought the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer!
I think I turned to the ice cream books because I was becoming slightly disheartened with the other books I have....it seems that most recipes I have contain ingredients that I'm just not OK with...some because of flavour, but most because of texture....it is quite an obstacle:
Tomatoes: I like the taste of tomatoes in a cooked sauce provided it isn't too sour...but raw tomatoes and I are not friends. The gloopy innards are a textural nightmare for me....and if I find a tomato seed in my food, the meal is over.
Onions: There is nothing that can replace the flavour of onions...especially in pasta sauce, or in earthy stews....but the slimy texture of a cooked onion is too much for me to handle. I am perfectly happy to mince an onion beyond recognition for the sake of having the flavour without having the texture....and to the dismay of those I sup with, I am equally happy to pick onions out of my food regardless of how much time it takes me to do it...hey, if it is no inconvenience to me, why should anyone else care?
Olives: I have mapped out the olive cart in every grocery store I frequent, and become livid when they move them around. For me, there are few things worse than taking a breath anywhere near the olive cart, so I am sure to get a good deep breath in the fruit and veg department - hold it until well past the olives - and then start breathing normally again in the bakery area...
Shellfish: Wow...I don't like tomatoes, onions, olives, or shellfish....my chances of marrying a Greek or Italian just got dramatically lower. (*an aside* I went to a Mediterranean restaurant on Tuesday night...I had the braised lamb shank because it was one of the few things on the menu that did not include food ingredients that I don't like...it was amazing. Also, had saganaki - fried Greek cheese which is flambéed at the table with a loud, "Opa!!" from the waiter. It was also incredibly good). Maybe I've just never had enough exposure to shellfish...we didn't eat a lot of seafood when I was growing up. I don't even eat salmon or tuna...but, again, that could come from years of non-exposure to tuna or salmon that does not come from a can. I do like some fish, though...a nice piece of halibut steamed with lemon and freshly-ground black pepper in a tin-foil packet on the barbecue...that is good stuff.
Hot (spicy) food: This isn't necessarily food that everyone else finds spicy...I have a very sensitive palette. I am actually what is known as a super-taster. This doesn't mean that I can dissect subtle flavours in food, or nuances in wine...it means that because of the increased number of fungiform papillae I have on my taste buds, I taste bitter and spicy foods more intensely. Everyone I talked to about this thought I was making it up until Homer Simpson became a super-taster on a somewhat recent episode of The Simpsons. Basically, Homer burns off his taste buds, and when the new ones grow back, he can only eat the blandest of foods. Maybe, in my case, it has to do with having the entire top of my tongue stuck to a fence when I was 6...but that's another story...
So, in the case of the first 4 items, I suppose I could be converted. I mean, I used to hate broccoli and mushrooms, and now they are 2 of my favourite things. Perhaps my evolution as a cook will allow for an evolution in the things I choose to cook.....maybe I can even become desensitized to the hot stuff as well....I think it is a step I need to take if I am going to make any real progress culinarily. Hey...I wanted to make some life-changes...there's no point in being a coward now!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Technically...
Well, I did not have time to cook anything this weekend as I had hoped...and as I intended with starting this blog.
However, I did manage to feed 32 mosquitoes...does that count?
I think I'll look ahead to what I might accomplish this coming weekend...
However, I did manage to feed 32 mosquitoes...does that count?
I think I'll look ahead to what I might accomplish this coming weekend...
Friday, August 21, 2009
A bad start
So...it would appear that I may have no time to even attempt any cooking this weekend.
Tomorrow, I am driving 3 hours to attend a wedding of one of my best friends from university. It is an evening wedding, and I'm not staying over...so that will be a late night. Whether I will be functioning enough to attempt something edible on Sunday will remain to be seen!
Tomorrow, I am driving 3 hours to attend a wedding of one of my best friends from university. It is an evening wedding, and I'm not staying over...so that will be a late night. Whether I will be functioning enough to attempt something edible on Sunday will remain to be seen!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
I know, I know...it's a poor musician who blames her instruments...
I am a planner. I am organized to the extreme...I have an unhealthy attention to detail, and am obsessed with having everything I need on hand BEFORE I begin any task. ...even if it is months in advance. Well, today, while sitting at a desk at my current job, I started mentally taking stock of the things I will need in this culinary undertaking I am embarking on...and I have come to a startling conclusion...
I don't have enough kitchen gadgets.
...no...that isn't quite true...I have plenty of kitchen gadgets, but according to the pros over at Cook's Illustrated, I don't have the RIGHT ones, exactly. Let's start with the big one...
I don't have a proper chef's knife. Well, here is the reality of the situation...I am NOT going to go out and buy the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 8-inch Chef’s Knife that retails in the U.S. for about $83...especially because I wouldn't even know where to look for one. The 8-inch chef's knife I DO have was a shocking $1.50, and was purchased for me by my mom the last time she took a trip to the Dollarama. I'll be honest...it isn't as terrible as you might imagine....but it didn't pass the slice-through-a-sheet-of-paper-test right out of the package. In fact, I have sharpened it twice now, and it STILL won't slice cleanly through the paper...and I am doubting that I have bought super tough, knife-resistant paper...and there are so many choices!! Handle sizes and materials, forged blades versus stamped...buying my car wasn't this complicated!
My garlic press appears to be crap. Now, I hear some of you more experienced cooks out there saying, "You don't need a garlic press! Mince it with your knife, you amateur!" Well, I would point out to those people that I have just completed a rather detailed diatribe about how I don't have a proper knife...and besides, when someone has a calculator, are they going to get a pencil and piece of paper (maybe that knife-resistant stuff) and do the long division? No. The calculator, like the garlic press, is meant to make things easier, and less time-consuming.
So, at this point, I start to panic....I have no v-rack for roasting poultry! Nor do I have the fancy-shmancy $120 roasting pan! What kind of monster am I? And how the hell have I lived this long without having an off-set spatula?!
Deep breaths...deep breaths....all is not completely lost. I DO have the KitchenAid stand mixer...and the ThermaPen thermometer...and the Tramontina cast iron Dutch oven (I was not ever going to buy the Le Creuset for $231...I don't think anyone should, really).
...man...I think it's time to shop online for some things....
I don't have enough kitchen gadgets.
...no...that isn't quite true...I have plenty of kitchen gadgets, but according to the pros over at Cook's Illustrated, I don't have the RIGHT ones, exactly. Let's start with the big one...
I don't have a proper chef's knife. Well, here is the reality of the situation...I am NOT going to go out and buy the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 8-inch Chef’s Knife that retails in the U.S. for about $83...especially because I wouldn't even know where to look for one. The 8-inch chef's knife I DO have was a shocking $1.50, and was purchased for me by my mom the last time she took a trip to the Dollarama. I'll be honest...it isn't as terrible as you might imagine....but it didn't pass the slice-through-a-sheet-of-paper-test right out of the package. In fact, I have sharpened it twice now, and it STILL won't slice cleanly through the paper...and I am doubting that I have bought super tough, knife-resistant paper...and there are so many choices!! Handle sizes and materials, forged blades versus stamped...buying my car wasn't this complicated!
My garlic press appears to be crap. Now, I hear some of you more experienced cooks out there saying, "You don't need a garlic press! Mince it with your knife, you amateur!" Well, I would point out to those people that I have just completed a rather detailed diatribe about how I don't have a proper knife...and besides, when someone has a calculator, are they going to get a pencil and piece of paper (maybe that knife-resistant stuff) and do the long division? No. The calculator, like the garlic press, is meant to make things easier, and less time-consuming.
So, at this point, I start to panic....I have no v-rack for roasting poultry! Nor do I have the fancy-shmancy $120 roasting pan! What kind of monster am I? And how the hell have I lived this long without having an off-set spatula?!
Deep breaths...deep breaths....all is not completely lost. I DO have the KitchenAid stand mixer...and the ThermaPen thermometer...and the Tramontina cast iron Dutch oven (I was not ever going to buy the Le Creuset for $231...I don't think anyone should, really).
...man...I think it's time to shop online for some things....
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Overture
OK. So everyone, it seems, is writing a blog about something food related these days. Is it in hopes of getting a book deal like the waiter from "waiter rant"? Or a book leading to a movie like Julie Powell?
Yes, I have seen Julie & Julia...and I have read excerpts from the blog that started it all...but I didn't get this idea from that. No, this has been stewing (I am prone to puns...that is something you'll just have to deal with) for some time now...
I am a useless cook...completely useless....I am terrible at timing everything right, I'm a bit squeamish about handing raw meat, and I'm fairly dangerous when wielding a knife. (*an aside* Using the term "wielding" has its own set of negative connotations...wielding ANYTHING sounds threatening, "The thief stormed through the bank doors wielding a bread stick"....sounds a bit dangerous...Oooo..."brandishing" is another good one...right....digressing...). Anyway, I no longer wish to be a terrible cook, and I had to think of some way to fix it. I had a couple of options:
1. Learn from mom. This seems, on the surface, to be the most logical choice. Now, don't get me wrong...there are many things that my mom makes, and makes really, REALLY well....and there are definitely things that I can learn from her....but she and I have some major disagreements when it comes to cooking. The major one is the "doneness" of meat...specifically, roast beef and steak. I didn't know that humans could consume meat with a pinkish interior until I was about 16, and was having dinner at a friend's house. It was a major discovery...a real coming of age situation. I joke with my mom that her method for cooking a roast is to cook it until it is well-done, and then cook it for another hour. I'll tell you, though....you can't beat her gravy...
Cooking for my mom is also highly problematic. There is a facial expression she gets when I know she hates what I have cooked, and while I am positive that she doesn't intend for it to be this way, that look says, "Well great, now we have no dinner, and it is your fault. I suppose it's time to microwave some soup so I don't starve to death..." All of that pressure is a major obstacle for me, so I try to cook things when I know I'm the only one eating it...so mom and I should not be in the kitchen at the same time...
2. Take a cooking class. I live in a small-ish town...that is not a very viable option for me...nor is it financially prudent...so that isn't going to work.
3. Own a library of cookbooks, and all 8 seasons of America's Test Kitchen (as well as season 1 of Cook's Country TV), and just force myself to cook things from them. Hmmm...not a bad idea. Sure, living in Canada makes it difficult to get some of the recommended brands....and some of the Flintstone-sized cuts of meat are not readily available (probably because we're shipping them to the U.S.), but I should be able to make that work. But wait! What's the motivating factor? What can drive me to even attempt it?
3b. Present the process to an audience. I am a musician...I am a performer...if I have an audience of some kind, then maybe I'll be able to stick with it because I'll feel like if I don't, I'm letting my audience down...and to a performer, that is simply not acceptable.
So, with that decided, here I am. Because my schedule is a bit frantic, the only time I have to cook things, really, is on weekends...so, I am "the Friday to Sunday foodie"
...so, what's next?
Yes, I have seen Julie & Julia...and I have read excerpts from the blog that started it all...but I didn't get this idea from that. No, this has been stewing (I am prone to puns...that is something you'll just have to deal with) for some time now...
I am a useless cook...completely useless....I am terrible at timing everything right, I'm a bit squeamish about handing raw meat, and I'm fairly dangerous when wielding a knife. (*an aside* Using the term "wielding" has its own set of negative connotations...wielding ANYTHING sounds threatening, "The thief stormed through the bank doors wielding a bread stick"....sounds a bit dangerous...Oooo..."brandishing" is another good one...right....digressing...). Anyway, I no longer wish to be a terrible cook, and I had to think of some way to fix it. I had a couple of options:
1. Learn from mom. This seems, on the surface, to be the most logical choice. Now, don't get me wrong...there are many things that my mom makes, and makes really, REALLY well....and there are definitely things that I can learn from her....but she and I have some major disagreements when it comes to cooking. The major one is the "doneness" of meat...specifically, roast beef and steak. I didn't know that humans could consume meat with a pinkish interior until I was about 16, and was having dinner at a friend's house. It was a major discovery...a real coming of age situation. I joke with my mom that her method for cooking a roast is to cook it until it is well-done, and then cook it for another hour. I'll tell you, though....you can't beat her gravy...
Cooking for my mom is also highly problematic. There is a facial expression she gets when I know she hates what I have cooked, and while I am positive that she doesn't intend for it to be this way, that look says, "Well great, now we have no dinner, and it is your fault. I suppose it's time to microwave some soup so I don't starve to death..." All of that pressure is a major obstacle for me, so I try to cook things when I know I'm the only one eating it...so mom and I should not be in the kitchen at the same time...
2. Take a cooking class. I live in a small-ish town...that is not a very viable option for me...nor is it financially prudent...so that isn't going to work.
3. Own a library of cookbooks, and all 8 seasons of America's Test Kitchen (as well as season 1 of Cook's Country TV), and just force myself to cook things from them. Hmmm...not a bad idea. Sure, living in Canada makes it difficult to get some of the recommended brands....and some of the Flintstone-sized cuts of meat are not readily available (probably because we're shipping them to the U.S.), but I should be able to make that work. But wait! What's the motivating factor? What can drive me to even attempt it?
3b. Present the process to an audience. I am a musician...I am a performer...if I have an audience of some kind, then maybe I'll be able to stick with it because I'll feel like if I don't, I'm letting my audience down...and to a performer, that is simply not acceptable.
So, with that decided, here I am. Because my schedule is a bit frantic, the only time I have to cook things, really, is on weekends...so, I am "the Friday to Sunday foodie"
...so, what's next?
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Thursday, August 27, 2009
Picky, picky, picky!!
So....I've been reading a lot of recipes over the past few days. In fact, I just finished thumbing through 2 cookbooks while I sit here at work.....both books are filled with recipes for ice cream, sorbet, granitas, and other such things that one would like to serve with ice cream. Some interesting ideas in there...glad that I bought the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer!
I think I turned to the ice cream books because I was becoming slightly disheartened with the other books I have....it seems that most recipes I have contain ingredients that I'm just not OK with...some because of flavour, but most because of texture....it is quite an obstacle:
Tomatoes: I like the taste of tomatoes in a cooked sauce provided it isn't too sour...but raw tomatoes and I are not friends. The gloopy innards are a textural nightmare for me....and if I find a tomato seed in my food, the meal is over.
Onions: There is nothing that can replace the flavour of onions...especially in pasta sauce, or in earthy stews....but the slimy texture of a cooked onion is too much for me to handle. I am perfectly happy to mince an onion beyond recognition for the sake of having the flavour without having the texture....and to the dismay of those I sup with, I am equally happy to pick onions out of my food regardless of how much time it takes me to do it...hey, if it is no inconvenience to me, why should anyone else care?
Olives: I have mapped out the olive cart in every grocery store I frequent, and become livid when they move them around. For me, there are few things worse than taking a breath anywhere near the olive cart, so I am sure to get a good deep breath in the fruit and veg department - hold it until well past the olives - and then start breathing normally again in the bakery area...
Shellfish: Wow...I don't like tomatoes, onions, olives, or shellfish....my chances of marrying a Greek or Italian just got dramatically lower. (*an aside* I went to a Mediterranean restaurant on Tuesday night...I had the braised lamb shank because it was one of the few things on the menu that did not include food ingredients that I don't like...it was amazing. Also, had saganaki - fried Greek cheese which is flambéed at the table with a loud, "Opa!!" from the waiter. It was also incredibly good). Maybe I've just never had enough exposure to shellfish...we didn't eat a lot of seafood when I was growing up. I don't even eat salmon or tuna...but, again, that could come from years of non-exposure to tuna or salmon that does not come from a can. I do like some fish, though...a nice piece of halibut steamed with lemon and freshly-ground black pepper in a tin-foil packet on the barbecue...that is good stuff.
Hot (spicy) food: This isn't necessarily food that everyone else finds spicy...I have a very sensitive palette. I am actually what is known as a super-taster. This doesn't mean that I can dissect subtle flavours in food, or nuances in wine...it means that because of the increased number of fungiform papillae I have on my taste buds, I taste bitter and spicy foods more intensely. Everyone I talked to about this thought I was making it up until Homer Simpson became a super-taster on a somewhat recent episode of The Simpsons. Basically, Homer burns off his taste buds, and when the new ones grow back, he can only eat the blandest of foods. Maybe, in my case, it has to do with having the entire top of my tongue stuck to a fence when I was 6...but that's another story...
So, in the case of the first 4 items, I suppose I could be converted. I mean, I used to hate broccoli and mushrooms, and now they are 2 of my favourite things. Perhaps my evolution as a cook will allow for an evolution in the things I choose to cook.....maybe I can even become desensitized to the hot stuff as well....I think it is a step I need to take if I am going to make any real progress culinarily. Hey...I wanted to make some life-changes...there's no point in being a coward now!
I think I turned to the ice cream books because I was becoming slightly disheartened with the other books I have....it seems that most recipes I have contain ingredients that I'm just not OK with...some because of flavour, but most because of texture....it is quite an obstacle:
Tomatoes: I like the taste of tomatoes in a cooked sauce provided it isn't too sour...but raw tomatoes and I are not friends. The gloopy innards are a textural nightmare for me....and if I find a tomato seed in my food, the meal is over.
Onions: There is nothing that can replace the flavour of onions...especially in pasta sauce, or in earthy stews....but the slimy texture of a cooked onion is too much for me to handle. I am perfectly happy to mince an onion beyond recognition for the sake of having the flavour without having the texture....and to the dismay of those I sup with, I am equally happy to pick onions out of my food regardless of how much time it takes me to do it...hey, if it is no inconvenience to me, why should anyone else care?
Olives: I have mapped out the olive cart in every grocery store I frequent, and become livid when they move them around. For me, there are few things worse than taking a breath anywhere near the olive cart, so I am sure to get a good deep breath in the fruit and veg department - hold it until well past the olives - and then start breathing normally again in the bakery area...
Shellfish: Wow...I don't like tomatoes, onions, olives, or shellfish....my chances of marrying a Greek or Italian just got dramatically lower. (*an aside* I went to a Mediterranean restaurant on Tuesday night...I had the braised lamb shank because it was one of the few things on the menu that did not include food ingredients that I don't like...it was amazing. Also, had saganaki - fried Greek cheese which is flambéed at the table with a loud, "Opa!!" from the waiter. It was also incredibly good). Maybe I've just never had enough exposure to shellfish...we didn't eat a lot of seafood when I was growing up. I don't even eat salmon or tuna...but, again, that could come from years of non-exposure to tuna or salmon that does not come from a can. I do like some fish, though...a nice piece of halibut steamed with lemon and freshly-ground black pepper in a tin-foil packet on the barbecue...that is good stuff.
Hot (spicy) food: This isn't necessarily food that everyone else finds spicy...I have a very sensitive palette. I am actually what is known as a super-taster. This doesn't mean that I can dissect subtle flavours in food, or nuances in wine...it means that because of the increased number of fungiform papillae I have on my taste buds, I taste bitter and spicy foods more intensely. Everyone I talked to about this thought I was making it up until Homer Simpson became a super-taster on a somewhat recent episode of The Simpsons. Basically, Homer burns off his taste buds, and when the new ones grow back, he can only eat the blandest of foods. Maybe, in my case, it has to do with having the entire top of my tongue stuck to a fence when I was 6...but that's another story...
So, in the case of the first 4 items, I suppose I could be converted. I mean, I used to hate broccoli and mushrooms, and now they are 2 of my favourite things. Perhaps my evolution as a cook will allow for an evolution in the things I choose to cook.....maybe I can even become desensitized to the hot stuff as well....I think it is a step I need to take if I am going to make any real progress culinarily. Hey...I wanted to make some life-changes...there's no point in being a coward now!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Technically...
Well, I did not have time to cook anything this weekend as I had hoped...and as I intended with starting this blog.
However, I did manage to feed 32 mosquitoes...does that count?
I think I'll look ahead to what I might accomplish this coming weekend...
However, I did manage to feed 32 mosquitoes...does that count?
I think I'll look ahead to what I might accomplish this coming weekend...
Friday, August 21, 2009
A bad start
So...it would appear that I may have no time to even attempt any cooking this weekend.
Tomorrow, I am driving 3 hours to attend a wedding of one of my best friends from university. It is an evening wedding, and I'm not staying over...so that will be a late night. Whether I will be functioning enough to attempt something edible on Sunday will remain to be seen!
Tomorrow, I am driving 3 hours to attend a wedding of one of my best friends from university. It is an evening wedding, and I'm not staying over...so that will be a late night. Whether I will be functioning enough to attempt something edible on Sunday will remain to be seen!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
I know, I know...it's a poor musician who blames her instruments...
I am a planner. I am organized to the extreme...I have an unhealthy attention to detail, and am obsessed with having everything I need on hand BEFORE I begin any task. ...even if it is months in advance. Well, today, while sitting at a desk at my current job, I started mentally taking stock of the things I will need in this culinary undertaking I am embarking on...and I have come to a startling conclusion...
I don't have enough kitchen gadgets.
...no...that isn't quite true...I have plenty of kitchen gadgets, but according to the pros over at Cook's Illustrated, I don't have the RIGHT ones, exactly. Let's start with the big one...
I don't have a proper chef's knife. Well, here is the reality of the situation...I am NOT going to go out and buy the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 8-inch Chef’s Knife that retails in the U.S. for about $83...especially because I wouldn't even know where to look for one. The 8-inch chef's knife I DO have was a shocking $1.50, and was purchased for me by my mom the last time she took a trip to the Dollarama. I'll be honest...it isn't as terrible as you might imagine....but it didn't pass the slice-through-a-sheet-of-paper-test right out of the package. In fact, I have sharpened it twice now, and it STILL won't slice cleanly through the paper...and I am doubting that I have bought super tough, knife-resistant paper...and there are so many choices!! Handle sizes and materials, forged blades versus stamped...buying my car wasn't this complicated!
My garlic press appears to be crap. Now, I hear some of you more experienced cooks out there saying, "You don't need a garlic press! Mince it with your knife, you amateur!" Well, I would point out to those people that I have just completed a rather detailed diatribe about how I don't have a proper knife...and besides, when someone has a calculator, are they going to get a pencil and piece of paper (maybe that knife-resistant stuff) and do the long division? No. The calculator, like the garlic press, is meant to make things easier, and less time-consuming.
So, at this point, I start to panic....I have no v-rack for roasting poultry! Nor do I have the fancy-shmancy $120 roasting pan! What kind of monster am I? And how the hell have I lived this long without having an off-set spatula?!
Deep breaths...deep breaths....all is not completely lost. I DO have the KitchenAid stand mixer...and the ThermaPen thermometer...and the Tramontina cast iron Dutch oven (I was not ever going to buy the Le Creuset for $231...I don't think anyone should, really).
...man...I think it's time to shop online for some things....
I don't have enough kitchen gadgets.
...no...that isn't quite true...I have plenty of kitchen gadgets, but according to the pros over at Cook's Illustrated, I don't have the RIGHT ones, exactly. Let's start with the big one...
I don't have a proper chef's knife. Well, here is the reality of the situation...I am NOT going to go out and buy the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 8-inch Chef’s Knife that retails in the U.S. for about $83...especially because I wouldn't even know where to look for one. The 8-inch chef's knife I DO have was a shocking $1.50, and was purchased for me by my mom the last time she took a trip to the Dollarama. I'll be honest...it isn't as terrible as you might imagine....but it didn't pass the slice-through-a-sheet-of-paper-test right out of the package. In fact, I have sharpened it twice now, and it STILL won't slice cleanly through the paper...and I am doubting that I have bought super tough, knife-resistant paper...and there are so many choices!! Handle sizes and materials, forged blades versus stamped...buying my car wasn't this complicated!
My garlic press appears to be crap. Now, I hear some of you more experienced cooks out there saying, "You don't need a garlic press! Mince it with your knife, you amateur!" Well, I would point out to those people that I have just completed a rather detailed diatribe about how I don't have a proper knife...and besides, when someone has a calculator, are they going to get a pencil and piece of paper (maybe that knife-resistant stuff) and do the long division? No. The calculator, like the garlic press, is meant to make things easier, and less time-consuming.
So, at this point, I start to panic....I have no v-rack for roasting poultry! Nor do I have the fancy-shmancy $120 roasting pan! What kind of monster am I? And how the hell have I lived this long without having an off-set spatula?!
Deep breaths...deep breaths....all is not completely lost. I DO have the KitchenAid stand mixer...and the ThermaPen thermometer...and the Tramontina cast iron Dutch oven (I was not ever going to buy the Le Creuset for $231...I don't think anyone should, really).
...man...I think it's time to shop online for some things....
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Overture
OK. So everyone, it seems, is writing a blog about something food related these days. Is it in hopes of getting a book deal like the waiter from "waiter rant"? Or a book leading to a movie like Julie Powell?
Yes, I have seen Julie & Julia...and I have read excerpts from the blog that started it all...but I didn't get this idea from that. No, this has been stewing (I am prone to puns...that is something you'll just have to deal with) for some time now...
I am a useless cook...completely useless....I am terrible at timing everything right, I'm a bit squeamish about handing raw meat, and I'm fairly dangerous when wielding a knife. (*an aside* Using the term "wielding" has its own set of negative connotations...wielding ANYTHING sounds threatening, "The thief stormed through the bank doors wielding a bread stick"....sounds a bit dangerous...Oooo..."brandishing" is another good one...right....digressing...). Anyway, I no longer wish to be a terrible cook, and I had to think of some way to fix it. I had a couple of options:
1. Learn from mom. This seems, on the surface, to be the most logical choice. Now, don't get me wrong...there are many things that my mom makes, and makes really, REALLY well....and there are definitely things that I can learn from her....but she and I have some major disagreements when it comes to cooking. The major one is the "doneness" of meat...specifically, roast beef and steak. I didn't know that humans could consume meat with a pinkish interior until I was about 16, and was having dinner at a friend's house. It was a major discovery...a real coming of age situation. I joke with my mom that her method for cooking a roast is to cook it until it is well-done, and then cook it for another hour. I'll tell you, though....you can't beat her gravy...
Cooking for my mom is also highly problematic. There is a facial expression she gets when I know she hates what I have cooked, and while I am positive that she doesn't intend for it to be this way, that look says, "Well great, now we have no dinner, and it is your fault. I suppose it's time to microwave some soup so I don't starve to death..." All of that pressure is a major obstacle for me, so I try to cook things when I know I'm the only one eating it...so mom and I should not be in the kitchen at the same time...
2. Take a cooking class. I live in a small-ish town...that is not a very viable option for me...nor is it financially prudent...so that isn't going to work.
3. Own a library of cookbooks, and all 8 seasons of America's Test Kitchen (as well as season 1 of Cook's Country TV), and just force myself to cook things from them. Hmmm...not a bad idea. Sure, living in Canada makes it difficult to get some of the recommended brands....and some of the Flintstone-sized cuts of meat are not readily available (probably because we're shipping them to the U.S.), but I should be able to make that work. But wait! What's the motivating factor? What can drive me to even attempt it?
3b. Present the process to an audience. I am a musician...I am a performer...if I have an audience of some kind, then maybe I'll be able to stick with it because I'll feel like if I don't, I'm letting my audience down...and to a performer, that is simply not acceptable.
So, with that decided, here I am. Because my schedule is a bit frantic, the only time I have to cook things, really, is on weekends...so, I am "the Friday to Sunday foodie"
...so, what's next?
Yes, I have seen Julie & Julia...and I have read excerpts from the blog that started it all...but I didn't get this idea from that. No, this has been stewing (I am prone to puns...that is something you'll just have to deal with) for some time now...
I am a useless cook...completely useless....I am terrible at timing everything right, I'm a bit squeamish about handing raw meat, and I'm fairly dangerous when wielding a knife. (*an aside* Using the term "wielding" has its own set of negative connotations...wielding ANYTHING sounds threatening, "The thief stormed through the bank doors wielding a bread stick"....sounds a bit dangerous...Oooo..."brandishing" is another good one...right....digressing...). Anyway, I no longer wish to be a terrible cook, and I had to think of some way to fix it. I had a couple of options:
1. Learn from mom. This seems, on the surface, to be the most logical choice. Now, don't get me wrong...there are many things that my mom makes, and makes really, REALLY well....and there are definitely things that I can learn from her....but she and I have some major disagreements when it comes to cooking. The major one is the "doneness" of meat...specifically, roast beef and steak. I didn't know that humans could consume meat with a pinkish interior until I was about 16, and was having dinner at a friend's house. It was a major discovery...a real coming of age situation. I joke with my mom that her method for cooking a roast is to cook it until it is well-done, and then cook it for another hour. I'll tell you, though....you can't beat her gravy...
Cooking for my mom is also highly problematic. There is a facial expression she gets when I know she hates what I have cooked, and while I am positive that she doesn't intend for it to be this way, that look says, "Well great, now we have no dinner, and it is your fault. I suppose it's time to microwave some soup so I don't starve to death..." All of that pressure is a major obstacle for me, so I try to cook things when I know I'm the only one eating it...so mom and I should not be in the kitchen at the same time...
2. Take a cooking class. I live in a small-ish town...that is not a very viable option for me...nor is it financially prudent...so that isn't going to work.
3. Own a library of cookbooks, and all 8 seasons of America's Test Kitchen (as well as season 1 of Cook's Country TV), and just force myself to cook things from them. Hmmm...not a bad idea. Sure, living in Canada makes it difficult to get some of the recommended brands....and some of the Flintstone-sized cuts of meat are not readily available (probably because we're shipping them to the U.S.), but I should be able to make that work. But wait! What's the motivating factor? What can drive me to even attempt it?
3b. Present the process to an audience. I am a musician...I am a performer...if I have an audience of some kind, then maybe I'll be able to stick with it because I'll feel like if I don't, I'm letting my audience down...and to a performer, that is simply not acceptable.
So, with that decided, here I am. Because my schedule is a bit frantic, the only time I have to cook things, really, is on weekends...so, I am "the Friday to Sunday foodie"
...so, what's next?
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