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Jul 6, 2012

making food and food makers

I know how to cook, but I don't like to cook. I did not grow up having a help around, and so I know basic cooking enough to come up with a few basic dishes, decent enough to be edible; just give me half-day to prepare them though. Just let me do the laundry and other house stuff except cooking. Cutting stuff into this tiny eeny weeny pieces feels like a long nail scratching against the blackboard. It's how I loathe cooking. 

Lucky that we have Ate Mona who can cook ala kumbira style. Unlucky to my rusty cooking skill as it's now crumbled.

But with my goat religion, I found myself trying to reconnect with my little cooking skill as there are recipes I have a hard time explaining to Ate Mona, or there are things that I just need to try myself first.

With my new interest with food and making of it, I learned something about myself:

* I DON'T KNOW HOW to READ RECIPES or simply I could not follow simple instructions. I bought a few small recipe books which just end up gathering dusts. I would find myself reading a simple recipe again and again. Sometimes, I have to look at it for days before I could really internalize it. And, most of the time, I would end up just having my own recipe; cooking it based on my feelings It's one of the reason why I could not ask Ate Mona to do the cooking, as I don't know what instructions to give her.

Sometimes my own interpretative cooking comes out owkei, and sometimes, it ends up only I eating my own dog food. The problem with cooking based on my tastebuds' feelings is that I could not put it much into specifics so that Ate Mona or others can re-create them. A bit frustrating. But hopefully, after some time, I'd be more comfortable around cooking.

For example, this was what I was thinking of making, Asian Pear and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese.
But this was what actually came out from my own interpretation and hands. So far from the original, but I like it! Of course, I have not much choice!


* I did not know kitchen stuff and gadgets are to DROOL for. Before, I never understand some girls' obsession over kitchen stuff. But that one trip to Rustan's (Ayala, cebu) kitchen appliance section to find a good replacement for my mother's less-than-a-year juicer made me drool over these shiny stuff in different shapes and sizes.

If before, I could stay forever in the pens section of bookstores. Now, the kitchen appliance section is my newfound "happy place."

Yes, I'm talking about this now because they're having SALE. Aside from that their a tad pricey, I really have not much idea of how to use them.

I'm eyeing this food processor which is on sale, but I'm still complicating about it over and over again as I don't want to be just another dust-gatherer at home.

* I attended a cooking (breadmaking) class. I wanted to make simple whole-wheat bread, pita breads for consumption at home. As it's difficult to find them, and they easily spoil.

Knowing myself, I never had thought about cooking class. But after my failed attempt at creating a simple pita bread, I thought of attending a breadmaking class, just to get the basics.

So one day, I found myself in a group of mommies, who are really into cooking. They're all not first timers of Caro & Marie classes. One has a food business, one already went to culinary school, and others attended classes to while their time away.

Spot the clueless
It was fun. My only gripe was that I could only replace 20% whole wheat of the flour in the recipe. =( So all the ingredients were sugar (flour) and sugar (sugar) and sugar. Sorry, the goat is mean. =|

4 comments:

Therese Habana said...

Rosee, you start understanding the basic terms for cooking so you can follow recipes easily. Watching cooking shows will help you also. I am not a fan of following recipes to a tee, because I don't like to shop for all the required ingredients! Most of the time, I just wing it LOL! Nasuya ko sa imong bread making, I should learn to do that. My Papa used to bake before. Sayang wa ko nakapatudlo.

karenjen ♥ said...

ako pod i just wing it. whatever is in the cupboard, experiment and learn. haha! i like to watch the canadian cooking show where michael is the chef. starring jod iya anak or wife in the episode. sometimes watch ko iron chef or top chef or sweet genius, but only if i chance on it. otherwise, recipe book ko or imagination. haha

rose buenconsejo said...

a lot would advis me to watch cooking shows. but wa ko patience to watch it. mura'g too good to be true kaayo tan-awn. di jud mahugaw ila kitchen. maglagot ko! hehe

karenjen ♥ said...

haha, most of the time edited version naman gud but rosee if naa dha, check out Chef at Home, its canadian and he cooks right in his kitchen. mas educational siya for me and i can get it, unlike the other cooking shows who enumerate ingredients nga laysho ug mahal. haha