cooking
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Serving Mama
Ess showing her potholders to Mykala.
You are viewing stuff tagged with cooking.
One of Essie’s favorite games used to be “Dada Burned the Food” wherein Mama leaves the house, and Dada must prepare a meal (usually mac and cheese, a.k.a. “Bunny Noodles”). The stove always catches on fire, and the game is to figure out how to put out said fire.
Ess showing her potholders to Mykala.
“Little bit of eeeehhhhh and a little bit of eeeeehh.”
That looks like a misshapen egg in the background, but it’s actually a mini fake plastic piece of bread.
These little pots and pans are from my mom; Ess loves to shuttle little cashew pieces between them and “heat UP”.
The lid of the seventy year old stove creaked reluctantly as I pushed it up and ducked my head under. Dust and the smell of distant eggshells wafted up as I relit the stove with the long reach matches from our landlord Mary Alice. A few years ago, when we woke up to the unpleasant smell for almost a week straight, we had learned the pilots tended to get blown out by gentle breezes. Now, this little piece of knowledge was to get filed in the “no longer useful” category in my brain, along with bits like how to keep the sink and tub drains draining (never use without at least one trap), when to change the screens out for the storm windows (earlier than you think; the days quickly get cold), how to avoid the water hammer (turn the water on more than you think you need), how much to turn down the heat (a Pendleton and a down comforter were musts), how to stay cool when the power went out in the summertime (good luck… meditation?), the trick to shutting the front door (humidity dependent), which outlets dropped cord prongs from them like leaves in fall, and which appliances tripped the breaker if used in concert.
Mykala made this incredible vegan quiche for my birthday. Wish I had gotten the depth of field right on this one, but I think the picture still captures the deliciousness.
This was our first vegan Thanksgiving. Mykala worked for a long loong time planning, baking, cooking. It was incredibly delicious.
14 hours are left until day one of my two-day hell-test sponsored by the Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations. And when I say “sponsored” I actually mean “questions written to mess with me” because I still had to pay $360 for the privilege of taking this thing. My wife has made every food (all the foods) in the kitchen for a delicious dinner tonight:
My wife just made the most wonderful veggie burger on toasted sandwich thin for lunch. The secret? An awesome veggie burger (do you remember which brand, Mykala?) and smoked gouda. Wow. Happy grilling season, minus the grilling and minus the meat.
Mykala just made kushari. Ours was brown lentils, elbow noodles, rice, tomato purée + spices, and very well-caramelized onions. It was EXTREMELY good: according to Wikipedia and Anthony Bourdain, it is a staple dish in many parts of the Middle East. Someday, we’ll visit that part of the world and try this — until then, we’ll stick with a taste-bud trip.
Family dinners are extremely extremely important. I haven’t always thought this. In fact, I’ve usually considered food to be simply a necessity for living, nothing more. I dislike eating out in a mindless pattern (and I had better start to cook or train the cat to do so, lest we exhaust my wonderful wife, our only cook). On the contrary, I really enjoy eating out and trying new things… when there’s no obligation (perceived or otherwise) to eat the whole thing. My ideal dinner would be sharing a bunch of newfangled dishes at a restaurant… my nightmare is receiving a huge plate of something I feel obliged to consume. I have this problem where I think “all or nothing” re:the food on my plate… it’s easiest for me to eat all of it or none of it. It is supremely difficult for me to eat a little, unless my mono-food voraciousness is held in check by social obligations to my fellow diners. Hence the sharing.
HOWTO make the perfect fruit salad and get laid:
Wash your hands with soap. Do this in the kitchen, not in the bathroom, even if you just came out of the bathroom. Even if you spend your entire day submerging your hands in a sterile bubble, wash your hands in front of your sweetheart. Do it now.
I’m a lucky, lucky, lucky man. Dinner: homemade potato salad featuring farmer’s market fresh potatoes, stoneground organic mustard, organic sour cream, and Mykala’s special blend of herbs/spices. Fresh organic eggs in a tasty Rudi’s sandwich. All prepared by my lovely wife.
Salt and lemon juice = super clean skillet!
If you happen to be cooking a delicious chicken burger from Trader Joe’s on your stove top in your apartment, and you remove it from the pan in which it was cooking, you should make sure that you turn off the gas on the hot pan. If, in the event that you forget to do this, you should not panic upon realizing that the heat has been on an empty pan, and then pour water into the pan. This action will fill your apartment with incredible amounts of (admittedly delicious smelling) chicken smoke. You should, however, DEFINITELY OPEN ALL THE WINDOWS you can get to, turn on a vent fan, and hope to everything that is good in the world that your smoke alarm doesn’t go off.