• When my in-laws come to visit, I always make Joel cook or we order carry out. I don’t trust myself to cook something disaster-free with an audience.
• Whenever I bring a dish to a party or a potluck, I always burn it or undercook it, or end up bringing fresh fruit. (This makes me look like healthy mom who wants healthy options, but really it is because I have a good set of knives and some access to good, fresh produce. Sneaky.)
• Mostly, we make a lot of EZ dinners. For example…frozen pastas with veggies from Trader Joe’s that you just throw in a skillet, turkey taco salad, hot dogs on the grill.
But I want to do better! I would like us to eat more healthfully, and I would like the satisfaction of feeding my family. (I don’t think I have fallen too victim to the “Cult of Domesticity,” but I think I will find this to be a rewarding quest.)
So here is the summer challenge I have given myself: I have had Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything sitting around my kitchen, barely cracked, for two years. I started reading and liked his opinions that the best foods are those that are fairly simple to make with close at hand, high-quality ingredients. Happily, Joel and I planted tomatoes and an herb garden this summer for the first time. This will give me easier access to those fresh ingredients.
I think I will have some challenges in my quest to be an average cook:
• Money is tighter than usual because of a very expensive car repair. I have to at least start with things I already have around the house.
• I think my oven cooks things unevenly. In my old apartment I used to make excellent chocolate chip cookies. I have not gotten a batch exactly right since we’ve lived here in this house. (Although the presence of a toddler might affect my patience and attention to detail as well.)
• I like to make excuses.
Finally, I don’t pretend this is a new idea. (Many blogs exist where an enterprising young writer tackles an entire cook book. I don’t plan to cook the entire cookbook, and I don’t have aspirations of a book deal or advertising revenue, I just want to learn to make a decent meal for my family when I try.) This is also not going to be a food blog because I am certainly not a foodie. I just aspire to be called a “decent cook” because right now I am more like an “excellent burner”. I am writing about it because, so far, I am having fun. It will be nice to read about the process later on. Please keep reading if you are so inclined, and let me know if you are brave enough to be a taster. I have two recipes to update you about coming soon. (They both involve eggs. Seemed like a good place to start.)
1 comment:
The only good thing about a cook book is the list of ingredients that go into making something.
Once you know the ingridients use the old a pinch of this, and a handfull of that method. Eliminate and add ingridients at will. And don't cook by a timer, a look should tell you when it is done.
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