She likes to eat . . . But does she know how to cook?
If you ask me what I like to do, my first response won't be "eat." But if you spend any amount of time with me you will discover it to be so. Last week I met a friend I hadn't seen in six months for a drink, and somehow the conversation turned to food (well I guess it always does eventually with me). And for a moment, I was talking but I was also listening to myself talk, and I realized how much I actually do seem to know about restaurants and food.
I guess I also find the fact that I know so much sort of ridiculous considering that it was just two weeks ago that the man I have been calling my boyfriend for the last five monthsish said something to me along the lines of "You have all these cook books but do you ever cook?" Wow. It would seem we are past the stage where he simply adores me without question. Never mind the fact that I have cooked him at least 4 or 5 meals at this point, none of them elegant, but all of them satisfying in there own way . . . sigh. But then again, since much of my cooking seems to fall into one of two camps (vegetables sauteed in garlic and olive oil over pasta or red beans and corn spiced up with various whistles and gimcracks and wrapped in a tortilla), it also seems it is about time to expand my cooking repetoire.
I don't mean that I want to throw more fancy dinner parties (although that would be nice--at this point I have a few under my belt, two which really stand out, a smashing success featuring a delicious Italian flank steak roll, and a bit of a failure featuring a shrimp dish in which I did not realize that the shrimp was spoiled), I mean I want to be a better home cook. I want to be the kind of person who can come home and turn a few key ingredients into a satisfying meal. While the beau is a small part of the inspiration (there is just something about this one that makes me want to feed him), I think the true inspiration is Laurie Colwin.
Laurie Colwin is one of my favorite writers of fiction (novels and short stories)--she died suddenly, of a heart attack, at the age of 48. Though her books never made the best seller list while she was alive, they still remain in print 13 years after her untimely death. Yet somehow, it was only recently that I discovered the one that still sells the most copies, Home Cooking. It is a collection of columns she wrote for Gourmet Magazine, because as it turns out she was also quite a talented food writer. Home Cooking is a favorite among a certain group of cooks/food writers and it really is a lovely little book. It just makes me want to cook.
As of yet, I have been somewhat unsuccessful with the two recipes that I have tried. The first was an egg poached over vegetables sauteed in butter and garlic, and the second was veggies in a green sauce. But the good news is that the mistakes were both the result of my own error (I was nervous with the veggie and egg bit so I overcooked both, and I added too much lemon juice to the green sauce so it tasted kind of sour), and for some nutty reason I want to try each of them again. Sure they were not perfect, but they still somehow tasted better then the slice of pizza I would have eaten otherwise. And also, I realize the way I got good at the veggie olive oil bit, and the mexican bit, were years of practice. And right now I am looking forward to keeping notes of my failures (and hopefully a few successes too), as I struggle along the path of becoming a solid home cook.
I guess I also find the fact that I know so much sort of ridiculous considering that it was just two weeks ago that the man I have been calling my boyfriend for the last five monthsish said something to me along the lines of "You have all these cook books but do you ever cook?" Wow. It would seem we are past the stage where he simply adores me without question. Never mind the fact that I have cooked him at least 4 or 5 meals at this point, none of them elegant, but all of them satisfying in there own way . . . sigh. But then again, since much of my cooking seems to fall into one of two camps (vegetables sauteed in garlic and olive oil over pasta or red beans and corn spiced up with various whistles and gimcracks and wrapped in a tortilla), it also seems it is about time to expand my cooking repetoire.
I don't mean that I want to throw more fancy dinner parties (although that would be nice--at this point I have a few under my belt, two which really stand out, a smashing success featuring a delicious Italian flank steak roll, and a bit of a failure featuring a shrimp dish in which I did not realize that the shrimp was spoiled), I mean I want to be a better home cook. I want to be the kind of person who can come home and turn a few key ingredients into a satisfying meal. While the beau is a small part of the inspiration (there is just something about this one that makes me want to feed him), I think the true inspiration is Laurie Colwin.
Laurie Colwin is one of my favorite writers of fiction (novels and short stories)--she died suddenly, of a heart attack, at the age of 48. Though her books never made the best seller list while she was alive, they still remain in print 13 years after her untimely death. Yet somehow, it was only recently that I discovered the one that still sells the most copies, Home Cooking. It is a collection of columns she wrote for Gourmet Magazine, because as it turns out she was also quite a talented food writer. Home Cooking is a favorite among a certain group of cooks/food writers and it really is a lovely little book. It just makes me want to cook.
As of yet, I have been somewhat unsuccessful with the two recipes that I have tried. The first was an egg poached over vegetables sauteed in butter and garlic, and the second was veggies in a green sauce. But the good news is that the mistakes were both the result of my own error (I was nervous with the veggie and egg bit so I overcooked both, and I added too much lemon juice to the green sauce so it tasted kind of sour), and for some nutty reason I want to try each of them again. Sure they were not perfect, but they still somehow tasted better then the slice of pizza I would have eaten otherwise. And also, I realize the way I got good at the veggie olive oil bit, and the mexican bit, were years of practice. And right now I am looking forward to keeping notes of my failures (and hopefully a few successes too), as I struggle along the path of becoming a solid home cook.
posted by Emily at 8:52 PM
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