3. this is the rotation of dinners I "cook" in specific order: chicken curry a la trader joe's (I think I'll pass on this from now on since the work and time involved doesn't exactly make things taste as satisfactorily than even punjabi dhabi or gourmet india), pork chops or chicken my mom has marinated and frozen with a microwavable "steam" packet of frozen vegetables, hot dogs and fries or fish sticks and fries in whatever order seems convenient at the time, mac and cheese with hot dogs and frozen mixed veggies combined, frozen spaghetti sauce a la mom again and trader joe's dried ravioli or tortellini. tres healthy, right?
--self, 1/31/09, when I caved in to the "Twenty five 'random' things about me." meme that was being passed around facebook at the time
How the hell did I get from there to here in terms of my culinary evolution in a such relatively short period of time? Surely I had some inklings of refined palate even then. I'm sure my first ex-boyfriend John G. exposed me to raw oysters and gradually broke down my aversion to beer (Nowadays, I'm quite the snob about the latter. Miller High Life is my favorite cheap beer; I don't quite understand the allure of PBR). On a trip we took to San Francisco, I tried Ethiopian food for the first time, and to this day, that particular cuisine doesn't sit right with me.
At the time I wrote this, even while eating all this junk, I was toying with trying different types of blue cheese. I made a point of buying something I hadn't tried before and leaned toward more pungent varieties that didn't verge on utter chalkiness.
Growing up, my parents (largely my mother) would rarely ever diverge from Chinese or Vietnamese cuisine. Exceptions include Ragu beefed up with fresh vegetables or some unfortunate version of chicken pot pie that involved cans of Campbell Cream of Something or the Other. The Asian food, however, was always from scratch and quite decent, but obviously such food appears rather pedestrian to a child only occasionally exposed mainstream American food nevermind anything ever so slightly more exotic. (Don't worry, I relish bowls of Pho these days) We were encouraged to learn how to cook but declined the offers.
Fast forward to late 2009. I'm not exactly sure why I started watching full seasons of Top Chef, but I watched voraciously until I had worked myself all the way to the first season. (No Padma?! Chefs of a somewhat lesser caliber?!) "Where was there to go from here?" I wondered after running out of episodes. I found my answer when I found myself eying a box of Israeli couscous at Trader Joe's and thought perhaps I wouldn't fare too poorly following the recipe on its side. Soon after that I ordered my first Top Chef cookbook (I've cooked Stefan's Goulash about five times by now. It is probably the only recipe for goulash I've ever seen that didn't involve copious amounts of paprika.) and started reading ATK's Cooks Illustrated. Cooks Illustrated is an amazing magazine about the process and science of creating the ultimate recipe for a particular dish. Some of the impetus behind creating this blog is to demonstrate my (hopefully) excellent writing skills and the fact that I have at least 2 years cooking experience. Both are requirements if I want to apply to be an Assistant Test Cook at the ATK headquarters in Brookline Village and perhaps eventually advance to Test Cook, which would otherwise involve the attainment of a culinary degree and actual restaurant experience.
Besides, what the hell, I've done such a poor job practicing the art of writing since I stopped writing emotionally exhibitionist personal blog entries several years ago. No other hobby of mine entices me to documentation in the same way. Anyone who follows my Facebook status updates will already know that I will drive myself up a wall in search of an elusive ingredient or tool. There will certainly be loads of that in forthcoming entries, but also I will finally have an outlet to dissect recipe choices, prep, failures (lessons learned if I can figure them out), and most exciting of all... PHOTOS!!!
But, sadly, not in this entry.
Somehow I've neglected to say exactly how I've been brainwashed by the cult of serious foodie home-cooking, but this is probably best dealt with as each point comes up.
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