Stolen from brandedeclipse
ABOUT YOU
1. Can you cook?
Yes. I have never made a dry turkey.
2. Who taught you to cook?
I don't know. I was making my own cookies before I was ten. I watched and/or helped my mother, my maternal grandmother, my supposed paternal grandfather, my great-grandmother.
3. If you were any ingredient, what would you be?
Hot sauce. Some people hate it, some can't get by without it, but there's not much middle ground.
4. Do you enjoy eating?
Not if it's boring.
5. Do you take on most the culinary tasks in your household?
I used to, but I quit in disgust.
HARDWARE KNOW HOW
1. What kind of stove/oven do you have?
Gas. I like the control gas gives over that of electric, but it also makes me nervous. The widow of the mayor of the next town over at our old place was lucky not to be home when her gas line exploded, flattening her house. Then there's wood. . . .
2. Do you own a microwave?
NO.
3. How many shelves in your fridge are filled with condiments?
If you collect all of the mustards, and the hot sauces that need to be refrigerated, and the other assorted sauces and such, maybe half of one.
4. How many pantry shelves do you have?
Sort of eleven. It's about 5'x8', with five at one end, and four at the other, and two on another wall, and stuff piled on boxes and on the high chair, and wine bottles stuck into the holes in cinder blocks, and things tucked behind the door. . . .
5. Do you have any specialty appliances?
Coffee grinder, electric coffee maker, timer.
SHOPPING HABITS
1. Do you use coupons?
When they're convenient.
2. Do you shop all at one "supercenter" store or break your shopping up between stores based on categories?
Some things are cheaper at Jewel, some at Sullivan's, and some at Ron's (the little locally-owned family place). We prefer to go to the hardware store for that sort of thing, and toy stores or clothing stores or whatever for what they carry. We do not and will not go to Wal*Mart!
3. Have you ever made a trip to a store just to eat samples or get the free cup of coffee from the customer service area?
. . . . No.
4. Do you use your cell-phone in the grocery store?
I mock the sort of people who do.
5. Are you a prepared foods shopper or a from scratch shopper?
If I'm in a good mood, I'll make something from scratch, like a casserole or a roasted duck or lasagne, with a salad or two and biscuits and sauces and stuff. If I'm depressed or angry, I'll just make a can of soup or something, because who gives a fuck anyway?
THE INGREDIENT QUIZ
1. What is the oddest ingredient you've ever used?
Marmite.
2. What is the most expensive ingredient you've ever used?
Probably a huge chunk of a cheese like Roquefort, or some XO cask-strength brandy.
3. What is the most disgusting ingredient you've ever eaten?
Maybe the black sauce the maid made for the chicken in Brasil.
4. What is the one ingredient you didn't think you'd actually like, but do?
Whole-wheat pasta. The generic stuff, which has less in the way of additives, not the brand-name stuff.
5. If money were no object, what three ingredients would you keep stocked at all times?
Fresh habaneros, fresh artichokes, almond paste.
BECAUSE EVERYONE'S GOTTA EAT
1. What one specific dish could you eat every day and never get sick of?
Artichokes with hollandaise sauce.
2. What is your favorite menu item of all time?
Leg of lamb - medium-well.
3. What is your least favorite food?
Okra.
4. If you could make your own ice cream flavor, what would it be?
onyxblue1 has already made it for me - a very rich peanut butter without any chocolate in it at all. I'll get her working on butter rum next.
5. What is your ultimate comfort meal?
Does beer count? Beyond that, I might guess General Tso's chicken or beef stroganoff. Or Tom & Jerry's gyro subs.
By the way, can anyone find Alfred Zanger knives? I have two and I want more! They are the best knives I have ever used, but I bought them from a store that was going out of business in the '80s, and I haven't found any more - or any as good - since.