Cooking Improvement
Posted by Skrud at Tuesday, December 25th 2007 at 4:09pm
Since I started living on my own, the need to ward off starvation has driven me to learn how to actually feed myself. So I’ve been getting better at it, especially in the past couple of weeks! Not too long ago, the majority of my cooking efforts were embarrassing stories of epic failure.
Starting with the cake, my luck started to change. Before, the best I could do for myself was making rice (in a rice cooker), and grilling chicken or salmon on a household grill. I could cook pasta on a stovetop, but when I tried to heat up the sauce, it exploded in my microwave. I’ve even messed up sunny-side up eggs by dumping half a shaker of pepper on it. I tried to salvage it, but alas the damage was done and my breakfast was ruined. :(
But I persisted. I tried making French Toast a few weeks ago, and the result was not-terrible. I baked at a banana cake for the TEAM Christmas Party Potluck and it was so good, people went back for seconds, thirds and even fifths! The next project was spanakopita … although I was really just a sous-chef this time around. It didn’t look difficult and I think I could even do it again unsupervised. It turned out so good that drunk people eating it a week later said it was delicious (and didn’t get sick)!
This week I’ve noticed a definite improvement. I made pasta again and the sauce didn’t explode. I made a stir-fry without so much as vague oral instructions, and it turned out pretty well!
Now I need to figure out how to put some planning into my food-making, so that I can have leftovers and actually eat them before they go bad … :-o
I’d be interested in some sort of program that manages leftovers. If it could let you know impending dates, possible food mashups and general options it would be incredibly helpful. That way when Ed claims there is nothing in the fridge or he didn’t know that particular item existed, I have suggestions and options at the ready. Ah.. the joys of cooking.