Totally hooked on cooking now, to the point that I find it frustrating not to have a gas oven nor enough counter space in my claustrophobia-inducing kitchen! Hell, I'm even growing herbs on the window sill (Mint smells absolutely great, by the way). So whenever I need one, I pick it off the plant and pop it in whatever I'm working on.
I'm not quite sure what's got me hooked. It must be something about working with your hands and using all your senses. I like rubbing salt and pepper onto a slice of beef. I love the feel of flour on my hands while making pasta. Yes, I've done the pasta making bit: the whole flour, eggs and semolina gig.
My sister gave me one of those Jamie Oliver cookbooks last Christmas. His book's pretty good, although he looks somewhat of a duffus; but he seems smart as hell and knows what he's doing. He's also pretty good at motivating people to try out cooking. I'm a case in point--I used to boil water in the microwave.
I guess it's not just about following instructions off a recipe book. Most of the times I'd be winging it; reminds me more of the Special Science classes in high school-- experiments with just a little bit of the Mad Scientist edge. You just know what you want to accomplish, but there's a whole bunch of ways on how to go about doing it.
Some things I've discovered along the way:
- Virgin olive oil is a miracle ingredient. It's to cooking what penicillin is to medicine. Even eggplant tastes good with it.
- There are other things you can add to food besides salt to add flavor. I hardly ever use it at all now.
- Texture and color are as important as taste and smell.
- I make a mean minestrone soup.
By the way, the Martha Stewart scene between Gollum and Sam in The Two Towers really cracked me up!
The best thing about all of this? It earns lots of pogi points and is saving me tons this Valentine's Day.
