I am going to tell you something you probably don't know about me. I LOVE TO COOK, but my love of cooking didn't begin until after I married Bird. In fact, during one of our first dates Bird offered to make me dinner. When I offered to help he said, "OK, you can dice the onion and mince the garlic." I think my eyes may have bugged out of my head from fear. GULP! I immediately told him I'd do the dishes instead. I had no idea how to mince garlic. Didn't it come in a jar?
When we first married I could MAYBE make a handful of meals. In fact, my parents gave Bird this mangled spoon as a wedding gift and as a warning that I wasn't a cook.
I caught that spoon in my mom's blender years before and they'd saved it for just the right moment. Somehow the right moment became the night before my wedding. HA! Luckily Bird already new I didn't cook so he wasn't too scared. He soon learned I could make only a handful of meals. They included pasta from a box with a pre-made jar of sauce, Saucy Pork Chops (Family recipe), Tacos, Mush Burgers and Pot Roast. Looking back, I laugh at this because we had friends over all the time for dinner. Luckily, these "friends" were also starving college students who weren't too picky about what they ate. LOL!
Things didn't change much until three years later when we moved to Italy. I was still a VERY picky eater which is why I only cooked a handful of meals. Moving to a foreign country forced me out of my food safety zone. I often couldn't understand enough Italian to comprehend all of what was in the meal I ordered. At times, I ate things only to avoid looking rude to our Italian hosts. I DID NOT WANT TO OFFEND and I was afraid to ask questions for fear of learning what was really in the meal. Last, I couldn't work while living in Italy on base or off and had tons of time on my hands. Slowly but surely those "strange and foreign" ingredients made it into my own cooking. IF my limited tastes weren't restricting enough Bird decided he wasn't going to eat red meat anymore due to the Mad Cow disease in Europe. I didn't and still don't eat fish or sea food so it was out too. That left only turkey, chicken and sometimes pork. It was then I made my New Year's resolution to cook a new recipe at least once a week.
I began accumulating tons of recipes from friends, magazines and cook books. When we returned to the U.S. I began watching oodles of cooking shows and have since made hundreds of new recipes. It's fun for me to try new flavors and tastes now. I love it even more when I have the opportunity to try new recipes on friends and family. I'll admit some recipes were great and a few I don't plan to make again. My parents no longer tease me about my cooking skills. In fact, I'm now told I'm a great cook. I don't think I'm a great cook I think I'm a good recipe follower! Here are my favorite tools to use with almost every meal these days. Notice none of them are mangled. LOL!
Salt, garlic press (for mincing), pepper grinder, microplane, sharp knife, kitchen sheers and vegetable peeler. I also enjoy using my cheese grater. What's your story about food and cooking?
19 comments:
What a great story! And a great New Year's Resolution...I am not a big cook. I can cook and can follow a recipe, but I just don't like to cook. I keep hoping that after 13 years of marriage the desire to enjoy cooking will strike - so far no luck. Thankfully my hubby is not picky and didn't marry me for my cooking.
I'm a recipe follower too. I like to cook and I LOVE to bake, but I'm not a recipe inventor. I'm a little more creative when baking but I just don't know enough about cooking to come up with my own recipes - well, ones that would be edible anyway.
Hope you're having a great weekend!
You're my hero... you give me hope... I dont cook & want to so badly... Thats a great idea - to just try a new recipe once a week... not too much pressure but still enough to learn... Any easy recipies you have? You gotta give me the EASIEST one you have!!!
I grew up in a huge family. 12 kids and parents. Dinner was a major undertaking. Peeling potatoes for all of us was a job in and of itself. When Stan and I married, for the life of me, I did not know how to cook small meals. The good thing was that I only needed to cook 1X a week.
Now I like to try new recipes too. My favorite all time cookbooks come from Taste of Home and her sister publications. I have three huge ToH cookbooks that I use regularly.
Sorry I ruined your fun with Karin, but I just could not risk being found out. Waiting to see what you receive.
this is a great little tidbit to know about an old friend!
I can't say that I am great at cooking, though I love to bake! I tend to try new recipes in the winter and stop cooking when the weather heats up.
Most of the time I spend much energy on cooking, my kids turn up their noses and I get upset that I put so much effort into a meal they won't eat. Now THAT's the truth...
As you know, food is my passion! I love making people happy and when you make a cake for someone they are happy. My modo should be "Will bake for love:-)" Hee, hee, hee.
What in the world are mush burgers???
I've always loved to cook. I'm no Julia Child, but I can hold my own. My secret: Every dish tastes better once you add garlic and bacon!
So you learned how to mince garlic, huh? I received a garlic press as a wedding shower gift... I think I gave it away or sold it in a yard sale! Never have learned how to mince garlic myself, LOL!
I like to cook... and I think I'm good at it. Shane says I am. But he also says I am a messy cook! And I do like to try new recipes. In fact, I made a new one tonight. I can't remember the name of it, but it was pork chops baked in a sauce of ketchup, Coke and brown sugar! Sounds weird, but it was pretty good!
Oh, yeah... what are mush burgers?
I love to cook, it's the cleaning after that I'm not so fond of. I use recipes sometimes but never as they are written, I ALWAYS change them.
I ate cow's tripe in Romania after a communication break down. I figured out it was soup and from animal noises it was cow, we asked what part of the cow and she just held onto her belly. I thought at that point TRIPE and decided not to order it, Wolf assured me it couldnt be tripe and our host seemed to want me to try it so I oredered it. It was tripe in broth. I managed to stomach most of the broth and a couple of bits of tripe but they cleared up everything else and wouldnt take my plate because it was still half full. Worse still they wouldnt take our dessert order! Eventually we got the message across I was finished and I just didnt order dessert so they would think I had filled up on a few spoonfulls of broth;) I was so starving by the next morning. Romania was fun for us food-wise, so many new things...
In Hong Kong I ate a Cauri to save face. That was more clearly wolf's fault, it started in his bowl and he quietly flicked it across to mine and made a big deal to everyone that I should eat it. Not a cullinary moment I enjoyed.
What a beautiful story..isn't love amazing! It can draw you to do the most marvelous things!!
I love your sweet heart! Happy Sunday to you. Great big hugs, my friend!
Hello..I think I had a mommy moment and stopped mid-post to you to feed the princesses. So I'll try again, I use the point and shoot portrait setting on my Sony Cyber-Shot and increased the contrast just a touch. Thanks for stopping by! And I love the spoon BTW. There is a woman on Etsy that handpaints them, yours would be perfect. Hugs, Jen
In regards to eating, I've always lived rather dangerously. It began with the dog food. I grew up with 2 brothers -- we were always daring each other to do stupid things!
As for cooking, it was simply my destiny to be good at it. Plus, I knew that I wouldn't starve in culinary school! ;-)
There is something for you at my place!
The photo of that mangled spoon has me thinking of a creative idea. Make it to a key chain maybe or a bag charm? Hmmm...endless possibility. You're talented and your parents are clever! I have a cousin who never know a thing abt cooking but is now one of the best cook. I think Marriage does that to you! lol! Anyway, I hope you'll join me next wednesday for DeCode Wednesday. See you then.
Maricris
I didn't get into cooking until I got married either. We match!
that's a great story!
I am not a cook, my husband is. I like finding the great recipes then I turn them over to him. They are always good. I like the gadgets and I like lots of garlic and spices. He's the cook and I am the taster!! Works for me!
Congrats to you for learning to cook! Italy would probably do it for me too!
What a wonderful story. I have always loved to cook. I spent most of my time living with just my father and my brother growing up so I found I had to if I wanted anything remotely healthy. I am not a recipe follower when cooking. I love to read the recipe - get the idea - then take off running, it isn't always successful but it is always fun!!
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