Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The new cook

New forays into cooking abound here!

I have a lot of free time on my hand here in Cambridge. 3 and a half hours of class a week, 9 essays over the space of 8 weeks, manageable reading....all of this had lead me to find other activities. I read books for my Religious Studies major on my own, listen to a lot of Itunes U lectures and NPR shows, and I cook! I have never been a cook before. At home, I would make pasta, scrambled eggs, toast, and maybe nachos if I was feeling particularly inventive. But real, honest to goodness cooking? I just simply wasn't interested.

Well, necessity is the mother of invention, or, in my case, inspiration. Here, with paltry options at a too-far-away dining hall and all this free time, I decided to learn how to cook. I was pushed in the right direction by my lovely mother before coming to Cambridge; she had me follow along with a few of my favorite recipes, and take notes on numerous others. From seeing her cook so often I already had a basic grip on seasoning, measurement, simple cooking techniques, etc., but still had never really put together a meal, from the meal-planning to the grocery shopping to the cooking to the eating, all by myself.

Here, I've been loving cooking.

I've made three different curries (one even without a recipe!), beef chili, homemade macaroni and cheese, pan fried salmon, mashed potatoes, balsamic roasted green beans, enchiladas....mmm mmm mmm. I'm learning as I go, but have had a pretty great success rate so far! I make enough for leftovers and then store them away in my isty-bitsy fridge for lunch or dinner the next day. I may not be spending too much time in class here, but I am learning a whole lot of great life skills!

4 comments:

  1. I am so proud of you I could just BURST! xoxo

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  2. Woohoo! I had a feeling you'd come around eventually... there's just too much delicious food in the world that wants to be cooked and eaten!

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  3. And the older male part of the family would like to second the motion! Congratulations! You are now even more wonderful than before, if that's even possible. And you have discovered that there are lots of ways to get an education abroad, not all (or even most) of them in the classroom. Yay, you!

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  4. I 2nd all of the above comments! Hooray for you ...and in a tiny kitchen with limited tools, I think! I'm reminded of your Grandpa Bliss, my Daddy, who said: "One doesn't go to college to learn, one goes to college to learn HOW to learn"...and you're doing it, big time!
    xoxo

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