Hi All,
Let me start off today's ramblings with totally exciting news! I mean I'm so excited, I've gone through 2 trays of printer paper! Williams-Sonoma publishes their technique class handouts in PDF's on their website! http://www.williams-sonoma.com/pages/technique-classes.html?cm_type=lnav OMG! Some amazing stuff: Knife Skills, Better Burgers, and oh yeah Meatball Mania! Check it out!
Oh, let me take a deep breath.. lower my blood pressure and get back to the week at hand! So, as expected, I didn't do well with waiting for leftovers for dinner. Instead, I had my ham sammie/wedge salad for lunch!
Dinner was easy peasy.. As per the box of penne, I cooked as directed, threw in 1 cup of frozen peas in the last 2 mins. While the pasta was boiling, I cubed 2 cups of the ham and sauteed it in a bit of olive oil. When I thought it looked heated through, I put in some of the Oregano (1 tsp) by crushing the dried herbs in my hands over the pot.. Then 1 1/2 c of broth: I used 1 1/2 c of boiling pasta water with 1/2 tbs of chicken bouillon and let simmer till the pasta was done. Tossed in the drained pasta and peas and Presto! dinner for K and I.
J and A are on vacation but if they were here I'm sure they would have picked out the peas, put them on their napkins as if toxic waste (a trait they get from their dad), closely examined every bit of penne looking for hints of oregano that when identified they would look alarmed and shout "WHAT IS THAT?!".. After a bit of reassurance that they weren't going to be poisoned, they'd eat the ham. Why the ham with no drama? Because it's Pink of course!
As I've been pouring over recipe books and websites, cooking classes and techniques; I think I'm ready to take a small step toward culinary independence. How scary?! I'm going to start to create my own recipes with a bit of help from Julia Child. No this is not turning to "Julie and Julia" but rather I just downloaded her kitchen basics book and figured that's a good place to start to build. I'm still going to cook 1 major protein as this seems to be key to the foodie mom philosophy, prep as many veggies as I can in advance. I think there is a lot to learn about storing prepped veggies/sides/etc. I'm taking note of what makes dishes Greek or Latin (lots of variations) or Italian or Indian and I've become fascinated with herbs!
I remember my friend Michelle and I were talking about if you could have a super power what would it be? I said "To be able to walk into any grocery store and know how to cook everything you could think of". Well, I don't know if that's a super power (could be a curse depending on the recipe's outcome).. but I'm going to try! Am I destined to be a recipe follower or culinary creator? I guess time will tell!
Will it be culinary delight or disaster??? Stay tuned!
T
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