Advice needed!
Jul. 18th, 2010 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sorcyressI need very important advice, on two different concepts.
The first I will probably have people jumping to give --in Chicago, it has been declared that each of us kids will cook at least one dinner a week. I made some excellent pasta and cheese last week based on Magus's recipe, but I've slacked this week, and have no idea what to cook tomorrow night. Advice and recipes are needed!
Specifically I want to actually make something, ideally not mostly from a box. Stir-fry is a definite possibility, but I don't know what one would put in such a beast. I'm leaning away from a pasta dish, since both Nik and I did so.
I am, of course, not a cook and do not know how to cook, have any interest in cooking, or ever cook, and any such statements that seem to be to the contrary are a lie. Please take my utter lack of skill into account (ie, "dice" does not make as much sense to me as "chop into tiny pieces")
Also, this kitchen is a little bit lacking in equipment. There are two or three each of pots and frying pans, but we lack a bit in things like spoons. So, again, simpler recipes (that are not from a box!!) are better.
The second I will poss...
...dude, I totally just solved the second problem. I need a historical fiction book to read for the library reading challenge thing (which mom is totally kicking my ass on, mostly because I keep reading things like KoDT comics, which are awesome, but I'm not willing to call them some of the eight novels I have to read) and it occurs to me that "Napoleonic era" is totally historical fiction.
And therefore Napoleonic era with dragons is also totally historical fiction, right? Wevs, it follows the rules for histfic I was setting for myself namely not boring, and ideally Regency. Sweet!
(Unrelatedly, Scott Pilgrim is an awesome first book, and I am so pissed that the rest of the series isn't going to make it back to the library until after we've left. I may have to figure out the fastest (biking?) route to a local library to fix this.)
~Sor
MOOP!
ETA: When it comes to recipes, things without many spices are preferred, due to the aforementioned woefully understocked kitchen. So yeah, that. Also, thank you all. <3
The first I will probably have people jumping to give --in Chicago, it has been declared that each of us kids will cook at least one dinner a week. I made some excellent pasta and cheese last week based on Magus's recipe, but I've slacked this week, and have no idea what to cook tomorrow night. Advice and recipes are needed!
Specifically I want to actually make something, ideally not mostly from a box. Stir-fry is a definite possibility, but I don't know what one would put in such a beast. I'm leaning away from a pasta dish, since both Nik and I did so.
I am, of course, not a cook and do not know how to cook, have any interest in cooking, or ever cook, and any such statements that seem to be to the contrary are a lie. Please take my utter lack of skill into account (ie, "dice" does not make as much sense to me as "chop into tiny pieces")
Also, this kitchen is a little bit lacking in equipment. There are two or three each of pots and frying pans, but we lack a bit in things like spoons. So, again, simpler recipes (that are not from a box!!) are better.
The second I will poss...
...dude, I totally just solved the second problem. I need a historical fiction book to read for the library reading challenge thing (which mom is totally kicking my ass on, mostly because I keep reading things like KoDT comics, which are awesome, but I'm not willing to call them some of the eight novels I have to read) and it occurs to me that "Napoleonic era" is totally historical fiction.
And therefore Napoleonic era with dragons is also totally historical fiction, right? Wevs, it follows the rules for histfic I was setting for myself namely not boring, and ideally Regency. Sweet!
(Unrelatedly, Scott Pilgrim is an awesome first book, and I am so pissed that the rest of the series isn't going to make it back to the library until after we've left. I may have to figure out the fastest (biking?) route to a local library to fix this.)
~Sor
MOOP!
ETA: When it comes to recipes, things without many spices are preferred, due to the aforementioned woefully understocked kitchen. So yeah, that. Also, thank you all. <3
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no subject
on 2010-07-19 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
on 2010-07-19 05:01 am (UTC)I think cooking is awesome, I think people who *can* cook are awesome, I think watching cookery occur is awesome, and I think the end result of good cooking is one of those excellent things in the world.
But for me, it's just a survival skill. It's nothing at all compared to the delight I get from writing or dancing. I'm happy to leave it to the real artists.
((That is not to say that I don't fully intend to get Much Better at it. I see no reason why I shouldn't apply my occasionally perfectionistic tendencies to the art of the kitchen, and it is something I will have to do for the rest of my life, unless I somehow become gob-smackingly rich, or manage to shack up with someone who finds it as much a delight as you or
Part of my stubborn denial that I don't cook is because I keep having to deal with people becoming uncomfortably enthusiastic with me when I mention I've been cooking. I don't like having to break their heart by pointing out that this doesn't mean I have joined the secret society of people who are actually good at turning ingredients into food, I just needed lunch.))
Whew, this got long. And a little meandery. Look, I never said I was any *good* at my chosen artforms, just that I enjoy doing them...
~Sor
no subject
on 2010-07-19 05:06 am (UTC)Oh, and it occurs to me that I *do* get some degree of intrinsic glee out of sous-chefery. On the few occasions when I've gotten to use a good knife to chop things, it's made me mind-bogglingly happy (though I wish I were better at the skill), and I like mixing things (it's fun to watch them blend, with the different colours and textures and such) and I am happy as a clam to wash dishes. There are certainly things I enjoy doing in a kitchen.
I'm just not a chef, nor will I ever be one. I'm just this college kid, trying to survive, yaknow?
~Sor
no subject
on 2010-07-19 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-07-19 03:50 pm (UTC)Practice cooking skills and you'll get better at it. Buy and learn to maintain one good sharp knife. Learn a few recipes that are above the level of subsistence eating. Because the only thing more sad than not wanting to cook is relegating food to nothing more than necessary caloric intake.
Maybe when you return to Camberville I'll have you help out in my kitchen before I feed you.
no subject
on 2010-07-19 04:42 pm (UTC)Food itself is absolutely not nothing more than necessary caloric intake. (If it were, I would be better at balancing what I ate to make sure I got my daily vitamins and such). There exist in the world such things as my boyfriend's mac 'n cheese, and apples-grapes-brie crepes, and more or less the entirety of JP Licks, or your awesome...well, everything really. There is even good food that comes in boxes, like Thin Mint girl scout cookies. Food is brilliant, and I really seriously enjoy eating it.
As an art form, however, I much prefer to appreciate than create. All good artists need an audience, no?
~Sor