Then I went to college. I had dorm food for three years and gained ten pounds. I know what you're thinking. Ten pounds?! That's nothing! Trust me. If you weigh 100 lbs, 10 lbs is a lot. Here are some pictures of me and my fat face (and Stink Pants with hair.)
After being fed up with the dorms, I moved off campus and into my own apartment. Let's call that the "microwave potato chapter" of my life. Making baked potatoes in a microwave is oh so easy and oh so delicious... until you eat it for lunch every day for 2 weeks. I had to learn how to cook, and not just the Tuna Helper/Mac 'n' Cheese in a box-type cooking, actual cooking.
Luckily, this was around the time Stink Pants and I started dating, and he and his friends had cooking parties, so I hung around them and tried to learn all I could.
Fast forward to after our honeymoon. We're getting tired of Tuna Helper and Stink Pants's specialty, Stink Pants Surprise. (Cook macaroni and cheese according to box instructions. Add 1 can of beanless chili. Mix. Enjoy! Or mix, and tolerate.) I decided it's time I actually made real food, since we're all married and stuff. Here's a breakdown of my cooking battles.
Laura vs. Kare-kare: Laura Wins! Yay!
I've actually made this before, since it's one of my favorite Filipino dishes, so it comes as no surprise that I conquer it again.
Laura vs. Bistek: Bistek wins! Boo!
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Bistek is so easy, how could she mess that up? I've even successfully made it before. Note to myself: Do not try and reduce the marinade all the way down to a thick sauce. All you'll get is salt and sour vinegar taste.
Laura vs. Tocino, Mama Sita style: Tocino wins! Boo! I didn't know how to use the Mama Sita mix.
Laura vs Mama Sita's Tocino rematch: Laura Wins! Yay! The secret is to have it marinate in the rub for a whole day (not just an hour) and don't add water. We also had this with pork corn, which is what I call dumping a can of corn in the the dirty Tocino pan so it's easier to clean. The corn comes out really tasty, if you like pork :)
Laura vs. Chicken alfredo and asparagus: Laura wins! Yay! I made some Pastaroni alfredo and added a chicken breast and asparagus I cooked. Turned out pretty snazzy.
Laura vs. Corned beef and cabbage: Tie - meh It turned out the way it was supposed to, but it needed some rice to balance it out.
Laura vs. Mang Tomas chicken caesar salad: Laura wins! I know, it's easy to make a chicken caesar salad, but we cooked the chicken in Mang Tomas! Don't know what it's made of, but Mr. Thomas sauce is delicious! Kudos to Stink Pants for thinking of using the Mang Tomas as flavoring.
That makes the my score 4 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. I know earlier I said it was Laura 5, food 3, but I can't remember the other loss and the other win. Stink Pants can't remember either. Oh well, I'm still winning.
If anyone has any easy recipes for me to try, let me know :) Special thanks go to Pinoycook.net for the links to the pinoy food.
7 comments:
The food making seems to get easier as you go along. When I first started out, it was ramen and ....ramen. I had a friend bring me bologna and for a few months there, I had been cooking hamburger in the microwave (not.cool.), but I learned how to eat and prepare food like a regular human after a few months of marriage.
As for the stink pants surprise, I'm really glad you clarified what it was - Sunny said that he and I had something in common until I told her what it actually was.
What kinds of recipes might you be interested in? I have a ton of cookbooks that aren't getting much use at the moment (but they're fun to hit people with, even if I do hit like a girl). Certain foods? Certain spices? Certain cooking styles? Gallons of sugar?
andy sez:
I've mentioned it on Ish's blog before, but if you have Food Network, watch Good Eats. The cooking shows on FoodTV have become really bad. Rachael Ray has like 42 shows somehow despite being a horrible cook and having a terrible personality so generally, I don't say good things about FoodTV anymore. But Alton Brown's show is really terrific for teaching not just recipes, but techniques, all kinds of geeky, sciency facts about ingredients. It's great for the bunson burner crowd.
I agree with andy. Jay is super-nerdy, and hates cooking and he loves watching Good Eats.
Alton Brown is the biggest culinary geek on the planet. He will even describe chemical reactions and various technicalities about what he's doing.
Yeah, I've watched Good Eats before. I didn't learn much though. I was too busy being entertained by the silliness. If I remember correctly, there is one episode where he's talking about chocolate chip cookies, and every time he mentions the cookies, a puppet with an insane accent shows up and makes me giggle like crazy.
As for sending me books... I try to warn people that if you send me a book to "borrow" you probably won't get it back. I was probably the only kid in school with library fines > $20. If this does not bother you, then send me a book :) If it does, email me recipes! I prefer ones that are easy and don't require specialty ingredients (like some weird zucchini or a certain type of sauce I can't find) or some sort of jerry-rigged contraption that I'm too lazy to make (sorry Alton). Short prep and cooking times are always great too.
andy sez:
Ah yes, the contraptions. I love Good Eats, have made quite a few things from that show, but never one of the contraptions.
I enjoy cooking: Good Eats meatloaf yesterday.
I enjoy building things: 5.625 cu ft Faraday cage Saturday.
I should really enjoy combining the two and make Alton's little contraptions... but I don't.
I do appreciate it when he says, "You don't have to buy these expensive oven blocks, just use bricks." Or, "You don't have to buy pie chains, just use beans." But I don't appreciate, "Cut a v-notch in the cutting board, cut a groove for the wire..." -snip- "and you have perfectly cut cheese every time."
But still, if you know the difference between bread flour, all-purpose flour, cake flour, etc. you have a better idea of when you can just substitute what you already have and when you need to go to the damn store to get the kind the recipe says you need. Alton gives that to you... and if you happen to learn it from a pie crust episode, odds are there will be more puppets.
I use www.epicurious.com and www.foodnetwork.com the most, and also www.cooks.com,and www.cookingforengineers.com :)
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