Simple Pleasures
I'm actually getting back into cooking again! It's been a long time since I've done real work in the kitchen. And even when I did, it was typically with my grandma. (Something I really should start doing again...)
A little background for anyone interested in this, as this doesn't tend to be something you know about someone you only know on the Internet: Food is very important in my family. Homemade was the rule for almost everything.
When I was about 6 or 7, I started helping my grandma make Italian sausage from scratch, and we've been doing that ever since - though these days she just laughs and points out that she's now the one who helps me! Between watching and helping her and my mom, I've picked up quite a few recipes over the years and have made pasta, pizza, soup, sauces, and quite a range of desserts from scratch - and of course, it all tasted better than anything you'll get in a box or out of a jar.
Fast forward to the present day. It's been a while since I've done anything like this. But dad started developing severe food allergies several years ago and it's reached the point where it's difficult to prepare even mundane things for him, so mom has had to completely scrap a lot of the things she used to cook and heavily modify whatever was left in her recipe box. Unfortunately, the results are often less than optimal (through no fault of hers - dad can't eat anything with corn, any soy product, chocolate, nuts, etc., so the menu is pretty limited). Couple that with a recent test that showed mom had slightly high blood sugar and she's now on a low-fat, low-sugar diet. So my dad can't eat certain foods or he dies pretty quickly, and my mom can't eat certain foods or she'll die pretty slowly. ;P
So for the last year or so, I have not often been eating what she cooks, simply because a lot of it doesn't really appeal to me. Eating out all the time costs a mint, and even TV dinners and other prepared foods are expensive.
The solution? Cook for myself. I'll go crazy (and broke) otherwise! Raw ingredients and a little time can save a boatload of money and produce much better results - and I really enjoy it, to boot. Cooking: One of life's simple pleasures.
So, time to break out the old recipes, stock up the pantry with foodstuffs, and make liberal use of the freezer (and possibly buy another one). I have the Italian dishes and a number of desserts down pretty well, but I'd like to try out some Japanese and Chinese food. Japanese especially - I haven't had good soba since I learned how to make it 4 years ago when I attended a short class on it in Nonoichi-machi in Kanazawa, Japan. Hopefully I can find the ingredients!
My desire to bake cookies - whose whole recipes frequently produce 4 or 5 dozen, which is an awful lot considering I'll be the only one eating them - led me to search for a cookie jar, though it seems if you don't want one that's shaped like Batman, Garfield, or generic barnyard animals, your options are pretty limited. Is it too much to ask to find a nice, big, generic cookie jar? Something larger than the ones I found online that are big enough to hold about 3 or 4 Oreos would be nice. :P
Another thing I used to do with my grandma when I was really young was ceramics. Maybe I should take that up again, also, and just make a cookie jar. ;P
Kitchen mishaps tend to make good story material, so if I really do get into this, I might end up with some amusing disasters to write about.
A little background for anyone interested in this, as this doesn't tend to be something you know about someone you only know on the Internet: Food is very important in my family. Homemade was the rule for almost everything.
When I was about 6 or 7, I started helping my grandma make Italian sausage from scratch, and we've been doing that ever since - though these days she just laughs and points out that she's now the one who helps me! Between watching and helping her and my mom, I've picked up quite a few recipes over the years and have made pasta, pizza, soup, sauces, and quite a range of desserts from scratch - and of course, it all tasted better than anything you'll get in a box or out of a jar.
Fast forward to the present day. It's been a while since I've done anything like this. But dad started developing severe food allergies several years ago and it's reached the point where it's difficult to prepare even mundane things for him, so mom has had to completely scrap a lot of the things she used to cook and heavily modify whatever was left in her recipe box. Unfortunately, the results are often less than optimal (through no fault of hers - dad can't eat anything with corn, any soy product, chocolate, nuts, etc., so the menu is pretty limited). Couple that with a recent test that showed mom had slightly high blood sugar and she's now on a low-fat, low-sugar diet. So my dad can't eat certain foods or he dies pretty quickly, and my mom can't eat certain foods or she'll die pretty slowly. ;P
So for the last year or so, I have not often been eating what she cooks, simply because a lot of it doesn't really appeal to me. Eating out all the time costs a mint, and even TV dinners and other prepared foods are expensive.
The solution? Cook for myself. I'll go crazy (and broke) otherwise! Raw ingredients and a little time can save a boatload of money and produce much better results - and I really enjoy it, to boot. Cooking: One of life's simple pleasures.
So, time to break out the old recipes, stock up the pantry with foodstuffs, and make liberal use of the freezer (and possibly buy another one). I have the Italian dishes and a number of desserts down pretty well, but I'd like to try out some Japanese and Chinese food. Japanese especially - I haven't had good soba since I learned how to make it 4 years ago when I attended a short class on it in Nonoichi-machi in Kanazawa, Japan. Hopefully I can find the ingredients!
My desire to bake cookies - whose whole recipes frequently produce 4 or 5 dozen, which is an awful lot considering I'll be the only one eating them - led me to search for a cookie jar, though it seems if you don't want one that's shaped like Batman, Garfield, or generic barnyard animals, your options are pretty limited. Is it too much to ask to find a nice, big, generic cookie jar? Something larger than the ones I found online that are big enough to hold about 3 or 4 Oreos would be nice. :P
Another thing I used to do with my grandma when I was really young was ceramics. Maybe I should take that up again, also, and just make a cookie jar. ;P
Kitchen mishaps tend to make good story material, so if I really do get into this, I might end up with some amusing disasters to write about.