Spoiled. Spoiled. Spoiled.
I'm so spoiled. ::shakes head:: I know this, I accept this about myself. But it still sucks to have it driven home. ::laughs::
Despite living in a house with two other adults, and despite the poor and unprdictable state of my health from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, I still do the majority of my own cooking. I really don't mind, usualy, I like cooking, and I have no problem with settling for PB&Js for sevral days in a row when my health is crashed. But as a result, I've gotten very used to doing this my way. If I'm gunna make food, even just for myself, even just a midnight snack, I'm gunna do it right. I use lots of spices and herbs, both fresh and dried, I learn how to cook stuff and learn how to do it correctly, I use the right tools and I study how best everything goes together, both from a chemical/scientific stand point (Have You Accepted Alton Brown As Your Personal Chef And Server?) as well as ajusted to my own personal tastes.
And when it's something I do a lot, like say eggs, I have a set pattern. I know what herbs I always have handy, I know what spices I want. I ajust due to my tastes in that day or what's on hand, but there are a few things which are constant. 1) Kosher salt, or Sea Salt depending on what's closer to hand in the moment [never, ever, ever iodized table salt, bleck!], 2) Fresh ground black pepper, from a peppergrinder from whole peppercorns [I stopped useing pre-ground pepper years ago, I actualy asked for a multi-setting peppergrinder for Christmas the last three years running and finaly got one this year and was estatic], and 3) Garlic Powder, fresh enough to still have full taste [I go though it fast enough, so it never really has time to get so old as to lose it's flavor around me]. If my system is okay with dairy that day, I'll usaly top it with medium to sharp chedder cheese melted ontop (by use of a cutting board or lid placed over the pan while it's still cooking).
This is my taste. This is my rutene. Eggs and Cheese are two of my most regular sources of proteen, quite offten the only proteen I'll get in a day, and something I can almost always choke down even on a bad day. So I know how I like my eggs to taste. They taste right this way. I even have one particular pan, cast iron, perfect size for exctly two eggs. (Thankfuly, this is one of the pans Mom desided to give to me as a gift, I use it far more then any other person in this house, and she knows I was worried about finding a replacement for it in my own kitchen.)
The kitchen is almost totaly packed up at this point, only a few "bare essenchals" (as determed Mom) are left unpacked, like paper plates, silverware, food in the fridge and freezer, a couple of teabags (no full boxes, just a few I grabbed before the boxes were packed), and so on.
Today I had to make eggs in a pan four times the size of my little one. I had to use cooking spray instead of olive oil or butter. I had to use table salt. I had to use pre-ground peper. I had aboslutly no garlic.
::hides head in shame:: It was awful! They tasted wrong! And they cooked wrong! I even had to cut the cheese into thin slices by hand and spread them in some semblence of even as all the cheese graters had been packed and so my cheese was clumpy and uneven!
Even when I camp, and cook eggs over an open fire, and stur them with my pocket knife and a stick, I still know how to do them so they're right. And I still do it with my usual Kosher Salt, Fresh Peper, and Garlic!
::hangs head:: ::wimpers:: It was awful. I could bearly eat them. I felt naushus afterwords.
I'm so spoiled...
Despite living in a house with two other adults, and despite the poor and unprdictable state of my health from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, I still do the majority of my own cooking. I really don't mind, usualy, I like cooking, and I have no problem with settling for PB&Js for sevral days in a row when my health is crashed. But as a result, I've gotten very used to doing this my way. If I'm gunna make food, even just for myself, even just a midnight snack, I'm gunna do it right. I use lots of spices and herbs, both fresh and dried, I learn how to cook stuff and learn how to do it correctly, I use the right tools and I study how best everything goes together, both from a chemical/scientific stand point (Have You Accepted Alton Brown As Your Personal Chef And Server?) as well as ajusted to my own personal tastes.
And when it's something I do a lot, like say eggs, I have a set pattern. I know what herbs I always have handy, I know what spices I want. I ajust due to my tastes in that day or what's on hand, but there are a few things which are constant. 1) Kosher salt, or Sea Salt depending on what's closer to hand in the moment [never, ever, ever iodized table salt, bleck!], 2) Fresh ground black pepper, from a peppergrinder from whole peppercorns [I stopped useing pre-ground pepper years ago, I actualy asked for a multi-setting peppergrinder for Christmas the last three years running and finaly got one this year and was estatic], and 3) Garlic Powder, fresh enough to still have full taste [I go though it fast enough, so it never really has time to get so old as to lose it's flavor around me]. If my system is okay with dairy that day, I'll usaly top it with medium to sharp chedder cheese melted ontop (by use of a cutting board or lid placed over the pan while it's still cooking).
This is my taste. This is my rutene. Eggs and Cheese are two of my most regular sources of proteen, quite offten the only proteen I'll get in a day, and something I can almost always choke down even on a bad day. So I know how I like my eggs to taste. They taste right this way. I even have one particular pan, cast iron, perfect size for exctly two eggs. (Thankfuly, this is one of the pans Mom desided to give to me as a gift, I use it far more then any other person in this house, and she knows I was worried about finding a replacement for it in my own kitchen.)
The kitchen is almost totaly packed up at this point, only a few "bare essenchals" (as determed Mom) are left unpacked, like paper plates, silverware, food in the fridge and freezer, a couple of teabags (no full boxes, just a few I grabbed before the boxes were packed), and so on.
Today I had to make eggs in a pan four times the size of my little one. I had to use cooking spray instead of olive oil or butter. I had to use table salt. I had to use pre-ground peper. I had aboslutly no garlic.
::hides head in shame:: It was awful! They tasted wrong! And they cooked wrong! I even had to cut the cheese into thin slices by hand and spread them in some semblence of even as all the cheese graters had been packed and so my cheese was clumpy and uneven!
Even when I camp, and cook eggs over an open fire, and stur them with my pocket knife and a stick, I still know how to do them so they're right. And I still do it with my usual Kosher Salt, Fresh Peper, and Garlic!
::hangs head:: ::wimpers:: It was awful. I could bearly eat them. I felt naushus afterwords.
I'm so spoiled...