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October 15, 2006
Misadventures in Cooking, Part I
Hail, faithful reader! You are indeed a faithful reader of mine if you caught this post, the first in many moons,
I'm going to start writing again, both because I need the practice, and because I think I have something interesting to talk about again. Well, it's interesting and funny to me... we'll have to see if any of you find it so.
You see, having finally solved the roommate dilemma, I decided to try my hand at cooking again. I figured this time, I'd go for a bit higher-quality food, even though it meant more effort, because the main reason I gave up cooking the last time is that it was a lot of effort for food that really didn't taste all that good anyway...
It all began on Monday, October 8th. I was riding home from work, feeling all excited about my newfound take on cooking... I was eager to begin. So... I said to myself... what should I make? Well, myself responded... I don't really know how to make anything good (except for that pasta sauce with sausage that seems to have become a staple in my family. Aha! I know, I thought... I'll go buy a cookbook... one that has things that are fairly easy to make, but still taste good!
And thus the journey began; I turned my car around, and headed for the nearest Barnes & Noble, where I bypassed the usual Science Fiction and Fantasy aisle for the "Home" section. As I left the center of the store, I noticed that guys became suddenly scarce... at the same time, the number of books with pink covers was growing precipitously... I had entered the chick section. Well... I wasn't going to let a thing like being the only guy in sight avert me... and so, I found the cookbook section. After much browsing, I settled on one that promised great-tasting "Semi Homemade" dinners in 20 minutes or less. I flipped through the pages, and saw tasty (and, of course, beautiful) dish after tasty dish...
I grabbed a few other books to compare... while some of them looked fancier, and others looked simpler, I didn't find anything else that promised the tastiness of the semi-homemade book in anywhere near the time... most of the "easy meals" books were either 30 or 45 minutes... and most of them had dishes that looked more boring... (OK, maybe it's just the pictures and the names... I mean... the Killer Shrimp Soup looked really, really good... as did the Kahlua chicken dish... so I left the store, eager to begin.
I was on my way to the grocery store, when I realized that I had no idea what to buy... and that I needed to buy some kitchen gear. I had one pot, no knives, no kitchen tools... my roommate brought stuff, but I hadn't looked at it yet. So, I settled on the next-best course: have one last dinner eaten out, and flip through the cookbook, choosing recipes and making an ingredient list. Then I'd go to the store on my way home, and then get kitchen goodies on my way home from work the next day.
All excited, I sat through a mediocre meal at Pat & Oscars looking at the yummy things I was going to cook for the rest of the week... Gnocchi with chicken in a Gorgonzola mushroom cream sauce... Penne in a tomato-vodka-cream sauce, served with the Killer Shrimp Soup and fresh bread, Chili-Rubbed BBQ Pork Chops with Bourbon Baked Beans and Cheesy Cauliflower Au Gratin... I planned out 7 dinners (expecting to have 1 full serving of leftovers after each (the recipes looked to be for about 3-4 people... so even if my roommate shared, there should be enough for me to have a second meal)...
I got in my car, all excited to get started, when I realized it was 10:00, and I hadn't even been home yet... So, I just headed home, figuring I'd go shopping on Tuesday... Sure, I'd had a lousy Pat & Oscars meal (I never love Pat & Oscars, but it was particularly disappointing that day... although it may have been due to the delicious pictures in my book), but, as an animated Indian liquor store clerk once said, "tomorrow is the next day," and the new gourmet-chef version of me was about to rise. I got home, rolled in to bed, and dreampt of... actually, I don't remember... other than a vague impression that the dreams were disturbing...
to be continued
I'll try to write up the next part tomorrow... until then. good night, and good eats.
—The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at October 15, 2006 10:47 PM
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