Survey: Mama Style

Here's the first survey of (hopefully) a few select more. I made my mama take it (She is one of the best cooks I know, okay, she IS the best cook I know...). I was going to videotape her interview (as a change in material) but of course my family, being very un-savvy in the technological world, couldn't get the video camera to work (let alone know how to get it on to the computer...). So, for now I'm stuck with boring written surveys. My responses will be in my next post because I don't know how long these things can be before they (figuratively) break the computer page.

Cooking survey

Name: Terri O’Brien

Age: 46 years old

1.Do you like (i.e. enjoy) cooking?

I love to cook! I love engaging all my senses in the kitchen. Cooking is a little of this and a little of that. Unlike baking, cooking allows you to be creative without having to do precise measurements. I love the smell of herbs and spices as I am in the kitchen. I love to touch and feel the vegetables and fruits and determine by touch if they are going to be good ingredients in my meals.

2. Are you the main meal provider in your house?

I am the main meal planner in my household and I do not mind it a bit! Because I own my own business and work daily, I have to prepare ahead of time for our meals. On Sundays, I make a weekly menu to determine what my shopping list will include. It helps me to prepare meals in the early morning hours before I head off to work. As the kids are getting out the door with their lunches and breakfast, I move on to “what’s for dinner.” I try to make a meal that has the ability to be another meal for later in the week. For example, I made a beef tenderloin on Saturday and today we had BBQ beef sandwiches. I marinated the beef in a mixture of chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, grape jelly, red pepper flakes and garlic this morning. After it soaked all day, I heated up the meat and served it on onion rolls. Easy, but still very tasty!

3. What is your favorite meal to make?

My favorite meal to make is the one that my family enjoys! But really, my favorite meal to make would be spaghetti or chili. My kids and husband love to eat either of these dishes. I love using my canned tomatoes that I work for days on at the end of the summer. Opening up a jar of my tomatoes feels like summer all winter long! I love to stop during my busy day in my home office and stir the sauce in the Crockpot. Cooking my family’s favorite meals creates a sense of calmness for me during the day!

4. How old were you when you first started to cook?

I started cooking when I was about twelve; well, that’s when I burnt my first meal. I put some eggs on the stovetop, but failed to put any water in the pan. Needless to say the eggs exploded all over the kitchen. I learned what “smells like rotten eggs” really means! One of my first jobs was working at the Sweden House in the back of the house. I never really cooked much but thought if my friend Cathy could cook, so could I. On my first day as a prep cook I was assigned the simple task of making potato salad. The manager handed over the recipe and sent me on my merry way to the walk in cooler. The potatoes were chilled and I started boiling the water for the eggs. (Funny that I knew that the water needed to be boiled for the eggs, but failed to realize that the potatoes needed to be cooked too). I mixed the chopped, cooked eggs, onions, celery and mayo in the 50 lb.tub of diced potatoes and went to ask the manager what he wanted me to do next. He asked me if I was waiting for the potatoes to cool, I told him they were already cool when I took them out of the freezer. When he asked if I cooked them first, I thought I was going to puke. He proceeded to assign me the simple task of jello with whipping cream. Let’s just say that I learned “whip” cream really means whipping it with a mixer not with a spatula. I also learned that slicing carrots in a large slicer requires strong arms and the use of the safety otherwise you might look like Lucille Ball. Maybe being fired after my first day made me determined to learn to cook, and, if I do say so myself, I make a heck of a potato salad now.

5. Give me the lowdown on an average meal:

I have several cooking books that I browse before making my weekly menu. I write down my list of ingredients, check the pantry to see if I need anything on my list and head to the grocery store. I always look for the freshest ingredients and deals of course! One of my favorite dishes to make is White Fish in White Wine Soup. I start by adding a bit of olive oil to my pan and browning up some chopped green onions and garlic. After the onions and garlic start to brown up, I turn down the heat and scrape them off the bottom of the pan. I add a quart of chicken stock, a quart of my canned tomatoes, a cup of white wine (anything you would drink) a can of artichokes and simmer on low for about 25 minutes. Then I grill the white fish fillets with some salt and pepper. Once the fish is done, you can tell by it flakes up easily, I put the fish in a bowl and ladle a cup of the liquid broth mixture over the fish. It is so easy, healthy and smells yummy in the kitchen, not your typical fishy smelling meal.

6. Do you think there’s a difference between cooking and baking?

I love to cook, but hate to bake. I think anyone who doesn’t spend much time in the kitchen thinks that they are the same, let me be clear, they are not! Baking is like sewing, it takes precise measurements and patience. I have neither! Smearing on Crisco to pans, or rolling out dough, measuring flour, babysitting the oven are all things a good bake requires. I prefer to rub an undetermined amount of spices on a beef roast, peel back the leaves off the stem of rosemary, feel and smell tomatoes in my garden, and see my masterpieces on the stovetop vs. looking in the lit oven.

7. Do you express your personality through your food? How?

I do think food is an expression of your soul. A day in the kitchen cooking for me is one of the most relaxing things to do. I think when you enjoy something so much, your passion and love for life comes out in your food. My senses come alive in the kitchen so a part of me is in every meal. My lifestyle is simple and healthy and it is reflected in my cooking.

8. Do you feel that having to cook has affected other aspects of your life?

Cooking for some is a chore, for me it is a gift of expression. As a working mom of two girls, I am glad that I love to cook! I plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner between 6am and 7am every day. Like many things in life, to be a good cook, you have to plan out your meals. It makes it easier and more enjoyable for the hours spent in the kitchen.

LOST: motivation

Yeah, this cooking thing? Not working out so well. I can't seem to make myself care about it enough to follow through. I guess if other people depended on me to provide meals for them I could probably find some motivation, but until then, or, until my next i-search deadline, I'm looking at a pretty slow paced project-o.

Mission Breakfast: Omelet & Belgian Waffles

This morning my mother had planned to take me and my sister to breakfast at Schoolcraft College hosted by the excellent culinary students who attend that school. I was so excited by the promise of huge pancakes, freshly squeezed orange juice, and hand-made doughnuts. It was the picture of a perfect breakfast. And because I knew that they were almost professionals at cooking - had made it their passion and work- I thought that they would be perfect candidates for the short-ish interview I had whipped up. But of course, I woke up today to my mom telling me that they weren't open today. It's like they knew I was coming and deliberately dodged my interview and cheated me out of the best breakfast of my life!

Anyways, it really pissed me off, but I think it was more because I knew that I had to start my own experiment in cooking. To tell the truth, I've been trying to put it off for a while now, but finally, today I was forced into it. Thanks to an awesome idea from one of my friends in my English class, I have decided that I'm going to start off with making breakfast meals, then move on to lunch, and finally dinner (and maybe, if I feel confident enough, dessert). This will hopefully correspond with their difficulty levels: Breakfast = easy, lunch = intermediate, dinner = hard.

Anyways, back to my first expedition into the Great Unknown (otherwise known as cooking). Today I made a ham and cheese omelet and some Belgian waffles! It was amazing! I mean, at first I was really not into it because I had hurt my ankle (random fact, sorry) and all I wanted to do was lay down and read, but I stuck it out. Here's how it went down: When my dad got home I told him I was cooking dinner so he gave me a twenty and I went to the store to buy the ingredients that I needed. I knew I needed eggs and maybe some veggies, and of course the Belgian waffles mix (hey! I don't need to totally pioneer into cooking, I just have to be able to do the basics for the future). I was trying to find the same ingredients that my mother uses in the omelet that she always makes for me, but when I saw these little pepperoni bites I got really excited and decided to try putting some random ingredients into my omelet. When I got home with all my culinary goodies I was prepared to get crackin' ...the eggs (sorry, another cooking pun! They're my favorite part of this project!) However, my whole family put the ka-bash on my little pepperoni endeavor, so I had to stick to the boring and predictable ham and cheese omelet. At first, I wanted to cook the meal with no help from anyone in my family, but I ended up asking endless questions anyways. Lesson one that I learned: start cooking the thing that will take longest to finish first (in this case the waffles), so that everything is ready at the same time. (This is definitely something I have to work on). Lesson two (an expert tip coming from the Queen of Cooked Eggs herself, Darbi O'Brien): when scrambling eggs for an omelet, tilt the bowl slightly and whisk at an angle. Lesson three: when cooking an omelet, let the first layer on the bottom of the pan to soak up the Pam and cook a little, then scrap it off towards the middle and let some uncooked egg take it's place. Have you noticed how all of these tips pretty much have to do with the omelet? Well, they have and for good reason. I have watched and sometimes even assisted my dad in making waffles so it wasn't the biggest challenge of this meal. Also, I'm not as afraid of the waffle maker as I am of the stove. (Side note - I have come to realize that when I have my own kitchen, I will most definitely have an electric stove rather than a gas powered one. They are so superior, it's remarkable to me why anyone would want to still have a gas powered one anymore).

Back to my meal: I whipped up about half a dozen fluffy and delicious Belgian waffles, which according to my family were very delicious. (I didn't try them because by the time they were done I was working on the eggs and didn't have a chance to eat them before they turned cold). Lesson four: The cook eats last! What a bummer! I always took for granted my mom and her sacrifice to eat last and then, be the person to get up and get something for someone who is already halfway done with their meal. If I say so myself, my scrambled omelet was one of the best I've ever tasted. I put about four slices of Canadian bacon (which to me is pretty much just ham with a fancy name) cut up, a sprinkle of cheese, a dash of pepper and a small handful of chives. The dish was balanced perfectly. I even had my father take some pictures of it while it was in the pan cooking:

Anyways, my first meal was a complete success and has boosted my confidence in my undiscovered cooking abilities. Despite the time it took planning and making this breakfast-dinner, I can't wait to give it a try again. Even if it's just to hear my family's praise for something I did which I believed was beyond me.

Lauren

A shock that shouldn't have been so shocking

Guess what?

I'm not good enough for Julia Child! How many of you were thinking that when you read my first post? Probably a good chunk of you, and you were right!

I just went to my local B&N (My nickname for Barnes&Noble, my second home) to purchase Julia's book. I was so excited, and didn't want to waste any time trying to search and search for her book so I asked a worker at the information booth. On the way over to the cooking section, I told them my plans for this project and how I was going to learn everything I could from Julia Child. It just so happens that the employee who was assisting me liked to cook. When I told her that I was going to try some of Julia's recipes, she pursed her lips and said, "Are you sure you want to start off with her?" I said "of course" very confidently. Then, more hesitantly asked why I wouldn't want to. She informed me how precise and complex Julia's recipes were. Sure enough, when I picked up the book (that weighed as much as a toddler, fed with all the delicious foods I wish to make) and opened it up to check out some recipes, I found that I was in WAY over my head. I put it down quickly, a little depressed that I couldn't study under such a extraordinary cook.

The sad thing is, I looked at a bunch of other cook books too, and know what? It turns out I'm not good enough for Martha Stewart (at her snootiest), or even Emeril! What a sad self degrading thought; that I am so bad at cooking that I have to start off with a generic, American recipes cook book. I know I said before that I'm bad, and that I would be starting off with the basics, but in my head I was imagining pot roast with mashed potatoes and seasoned green beans with a simple brownie and ice cream for dessert. Now, I know that that's not going to happen, at least, not any time soon.

Your melancholy cook-in-progress,
Lauren

Julie & Julia & Lauren

Hi all!

I am creating this blog as a digital diary of the triumphs and failures in my attempts at learning the art of cooking (possibly baking too, if I get brave). For the next four months, I am on a mission to teach myself the basics of cooking and to learn the answers to some simple questions, and the questions are these...
1. Can I, with only four months experience, host a party and cook (a decent meal) for my friends and family?
2. Will learning how to cook my own meals make me more responsible and aware of my daily life?
3. Lastly, could I be Julia Child's child prodigy? :)

I plan to go through Julia Child's book, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom – essential techniques and recipes from a lifetime of cooking, and pick a good thirty different recipes and try them out for myself. I also intend to interview some local chefs.
*(if you happen to be a chef, or just a cooking legend in your family, please contact me! I can really use all the outside tips/support I can get!)
My goal for this project to to host a dinner party at the end of four months for my family and friends, and (hopefully) make them a delicious meal. I am also going to create a recipe book of my favorite recipes that I can take with me into college and beyond.
*(If you have a favorite recipe that you want me to try out, email it to me! This would definitely help me pass up the trial and error stage of finding a few recipes out of the millions that are out there. :) Thanks!)
Now, I should warn you: I have attempted to cook only twice in my life time, and both times turned out to be disastrous. I have been all but banned from the kitchen at this point, which admittedly hasn't bothered me all that much; I never saw the point of learning to cook if someone could make my meals for me. But now, I'm about to go off to college where I'll eventually have to fend for myself in the food department. Not to mention the fact that my future kids will no doubt go hungry if I don't.
So, with that said, I have decided to do this! I bought the book; I've got my apron, and I'm ready to go...I hope. Anyways, I've started my experiment in the culinary arts, and I can't turn back now (especially because I don't want to fail my AP English project, which this is. Leave it to school to get me going on something I actually need to do.)
For any cook enthusiast who comes across my blog, or just anyone who wants to follow my journey into cooking genius, I encourage you to come along! I also would love anybody's feed back; it helps me digest (cooking humor) an outside point of view on a project that is very personal.
Stay tuned for some culinary craziness, cooking conundrums, and delicious disasters...

Your enthusiastic acquaintance,
Lauren

PS ~ My computer as been having some difficulties, so please ignore the wacky text changes, I promise to have it fixed soon. And you didn't even notice, thank god that you aren't obsessive like me. :)