rules about food
I don't really know why I'm posting this. Mostly to just record stuff that's in my head right now.
1. It is more fun to enjoy cooking with friends than it is to get things prepared perfectly to your specifications. It doesn't matter if someone chopped the onion the "wrong way." Loosen up, try deviating from the recipe, and act happy and relaxed. Eventually you will actually *be* happy and relaxed.
2. If everything you make turns out well, you are not experimenting enough. Experiments are how you get disasters, but also how you get masterpieces.
3. If you are just missing one ingredient, try finding a substitute in the house. Grocery store trips almost always end up with more food than you wanted to buy. This is also a good way to force yourself to experiment.
4. Cooking is like performing. People are easily impressed by showy tricks and do not appreciate the amount of work it takes to make some seemingly simple dishes. If you want to impress your friends, allocate your energy accordingly.
5. On the same note, anything that leaves you exhausted and cranky by the time the food is ready to serve is not a good thing to make for guests. Most people don't care about food as much as you do. They want to enjoy you, not whatever you prepared.
6. Fresh, local, organic ingredients are worth the extra cash. Even if you don't have the time/energy/inclination to cook it, an in-season fruit or vegetable raw tastes better than most crap you can get in the grocery store.
7. It is not wrong to eat dessert. It is wrong to "waste" your calories on crappy desserts that you don't even like. Homemade cookie from your friend who bakes? Probably worth it. Crappy store-bought cookie from the lecture you just got out of? Probably not worth it. Even if it's free.
8. On that note, you need less food than you think to feel satisfied. A small gelato on a hot day in Italy hits the spot and doesn't leave you craving more. That's because they give you the little tiny neon shovel-spoons so you slow down and savor what you're eating. A small gelato in Italy is smaller than the kiddie size in most places in the US. So if you're not wasting your calories on crap and have food that actually tastes good, slow down, enjoy it, and you will end up wanting less of it.
9. on flavors:
- cinnamon is amazing. use it in savory dishes too.
- same goes for cumin. except I've never actually tried it in anything sweet. hmm...
- whatever it is, you could probably add more garlic. (no seriously. I once ate garlic ice cream in gilroy, ca, "the garlic capital of the world." it was good.)
- adding salt to sweet things is a good idea. see: salty oatmeal cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, sea salt chocolate, and iced sea salt latte?
- experimenting doesn't mean don't look at recipes at all. Recipes are great places to find spice combinations you might not have considered before.
- my most-used flavor intensifiers: fat (butter or olive oil, or if you want to go all julia child, both.), salt, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, vanilla, alcohol
well, now I want lunch.
1. It is more fun to enjoy cooking with friends than it is to get things prepared perfectly to your specifications. It doesn't matter if someone chopped the onion the "wrong way." Loosen up, try deviating from the recipe, and act happy and relaxed. Eventually you will actually *be* happy and relaxed.
2. If everything you make turns out well, you are not experimenting enough. Experiments are how you get disasters, but also how you get masterpieces.
3. If you are just missing one ingredient, try finding a substitute in the house. Grocery store trips almost always end up with more food than you wanted to buy. This is also a good way to force yourself to experiment.
4. Cooking is like performing. People are easily impressed by showy tricks and do not appreciate the amount of work it takes to make some seemingly simple dishes. If you want to impress your friends, allocate your energy accordingly.
5. On the same note, anything that leaves you exhausted and cranky by the time the food is ready to serve is not a good thing to make for guests. Most people don't care about food as much as you do. They want to enjoy you, not whatever you prepared.
6. Fresh, local, organic ingredients are worth the extra cash. Even if you don't have the time/energy/inclination to cook it, an in-season fruit or vegetable raw tastes better than most crap you can get in the grocery store.
7. It is not wrong to eat dessert. It is wrong to "waste" your calories on crappy desserts that you don't even like. Homemade cookie from your friend who bakes? Probably worth it. Crappy store-bought cookie from the lecture you just got out of? Probably not worth it. Even if it's free.
8. On that note, you need less food than you think to feel satisfied. A small gelato on a hot day in Italy hits the spot and doesn't leave you craving more. That's because they give you the little tiny neon shovel-spoons so you slow down and savor what you're eating. A small gelato in Italy is smaller than the kiddie size in most places in the US. So if you're not wasting your calories on crap and have food that actually tastes good, slow down, enjoy it, and you will end up wanting less of it.
9. on flavors:
- cinnamon is amazing. use it in savory dishes too.
- same goes for cumin. except I've never actually tried it in anything sweet. hmm...
- whatever it is, you could probably add more garlic. (no seriously. I once ate garlic ice cream in gilroy, ca, "the garlic capital of the world." it was good.)
- adding salt to sweet things is a good idea. see: salty oatmeal cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, sea salt chocolate, and iced sea salt latte?
- experimenting doesn't mean don't look at recipes at all. Recipes are great places to find spice combinations you might not have considered before.
- my most-used flavor intensifiers: fat (butter or olive oil, or if you want to go all julia child, both.), salt, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, vanilla, alcohol
well, now I want lunch.