Cooking

[mousme]

I miss cooking. I don't get to do it much these days, beyond very simple meals that aren't much beyond boiling water (either literally or metaphorically). Bean automatically dislikes anything I cook (except for that one time he actually liked the shrimp I made, which was a glorious moment for me, let me tell you!), and because I've always tended to cook larger dishes most of what I make ends up uneaten unless I'm the one eating it. So it usually languishes at the back of the freezer until I remember that we have it and pull it out to thaw.

I actually bought myself two exciting books just before Christmas so that I could step up my game, especially with spices. My cooking ranges from "okay" to "pretty good," but I have no real knife skills to speak of and I'd love to be able to produce really delicious meals. I'd also like to learn the basics and theory of cooking, so that I can create my own dishes rather than always having to follow recipes when I want to make something special. Of course, since I have very little time, I haven't been able to do much more than glance at the books. There's no opportunity and very little incentive for me to cook at home. Our freezer(s) still hold a fair bit of stock from our last big cooking day, and at those times the recipes are all pre-established and leave no room at all for creativity. Don't get me wrong, I love our cooking days: they save a lot of time and money and the meals are usually quite tasty. They are a valuable resource for the whole family because we're generally pretty busy and it lets us eat regularly without having to worry about it too much. It does mean that I don't get to cook much by myself, though.

I can't really cook for myself in Ottawa, either. It took me years to build up the current stock of spices and pots and pans and tools we have at home, and a good chunk of that is also from when pdaughter when we combined our kitchens. All I have in Ottawa are a large pan, a small pan, a large pot and a small pot, and some very basic kitchen tools. Whisk, spatula, serving spoon. I have one knife, a vegetable peeler, a colander and a cutting board. Nothing in my pantry save the very basics (flour, sugar, coffee, tea) and the flavoured syrups I got as a Christmas present.

It feels wasteful to buy new spices since I already have them all at home, not to mention that even if I buy the cheap ones, it's a lot of money to spend on things I already have and am unlikely to use up even if I cook every week for two years. Furthermore, because I only have the use of one cupboard and one shelf in the pantry in the kitchen, I simply don't have room for that, or for more tools. I can't even keep extras in my bedroom because there's no space there, either. It's all rather frustrating.

Maybe if/when I move to a better place I'll be able to cook some more. Maybe bring some more of the pots & pans we don't use from home. I'll have to play it by ear.

Comments

Recipe exchange

[scrollwriter.livejournal.com]

You neglected to mention that cooking is also therapeutic, and not just serving to fill one's belly and those who others who may express appreciation for your artistic creations.

I quite like cooking myself, and would like to ask you whether we could exchange recipe ideas. My first suggestion for dinner for one or more would be chicken cacciatore, which can be found on www.allrecipes.com

Good luck with getting on with the kitchen work along with balancing that with other endeavours.

Look after yourself.

Re: Recipe exchange

[mousme.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course there's the therapeutic aspect of it as well. :)

I am a big fan of allrecipes.com, I've found some really great dishes there.

I can't really guarantee that I have enough recipes to do a formal exchange, but I'm always happy to share what I have!

[mellybean71.livejournal.com]

Lee Valley used to sell really small watch cases in a tin. It might be worth seeing if they still do. I've seen fancy packages of themed spices in similar tins and they don't take up much room. The boxes aren't very expensive -- it might be worth picking one up and filling it at home. You could even get a few and do the theme thing -- it would be an interesting starting point each week.

[wererogue.livejournal.com]

I can heartily recommend Cooking For Geeks as a book both for beginning cooks who are frustrated with inexact, gut-feeling-y tutorials and for experienced home cooks who want a bit of clarity on the processes. There are lots of great things (the basic equipment you need and why, where to spend and where to cheap out, the science of cooking a steak/eggs/etc.) but if you take one thing out of that book it's this: If you like a recipe, cook it again and change ONE thing. Then do it again and change another. It's a really great way to get a feel for dishes, and it'll give you the skills to fix meals that are broken or going wrong.

I also like Delia Smith's How To Cook stuff for the basics - the old TV show's on YouTube, too. She's got some great advanced recipes, too, but she really misses the mark for me from time to time too.

A really great motivation to cook is to gather family recipes and try to get them to work - especially meals that you remember from childhood :)

Also, if I want a really tasty dish I'll often check if Gordon Ramsay has a recipe for a starting point - he's a bit of a prat but he does know food.

[wererogue.livejournal.com]

Also, maybe we'll start Season of Food again for summer? You could join gats, sorceror, miseri, moonandtree, longpig and me in rotation who cooks a dish within a theme during a season (don't worry, I know you totally don't have time for that. Although if pdaughter and Bean could manage to come maybe it could be a fun family outing too - and if it's easier we could come to your place for some of the meals?)

Edit: Cooking days sound awesome, and I second the idea of packing yourself a weekly kit - if you just bring with you the tools and ingredients for the meals you plan to make, and even if it's just 1-2 meals a week, that's still going to be better than nothing.

When I was living by myself I think I'd have gone insane, broke or both if I hadn't been cooking.

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

If you've got some empty jars (or other containers) kicking around, then maybe you could pick a few spices that you'd expect to use in Ottawa, portion out some modest amount of them into the jars, and bring that to Ottawa instead of having to splurge on new spices, containers, etc. Absent any jars, ziploc bags would also work (but not as well), or...

Don't know what to suggest about the space constraints; squeezing all my cookware and ingredients into available space on the boat challenges me at the best of times (and I'm at liberty to modify my space to accomodate my crap--mounting spice racks to bulkheads, hanging nets from grab-rails, installing more shelves, etc.)