"Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble"
I am cooking. Be afraid.....be very afraid.
Cooking, I have found, is very therapeutic. Following a recipe, slowly added ingredients, taking your time to mix & mingle spices, learning to multi-task......yeah, that's not exactly my strength. But you never know until you try. And try I do.
Having an unusually large amount of free time on my hands due to the Palsy, I have found other things to keep me entertained. Planning a wedding. Researching or renewing my interest in my Wiccan beliefs. Re-decorating the house. Cooking.
And I have realized that I'm not half-bad. At cooking that is.
I have always wanted to improve my cooking skills. In previous lives, the extent of my cooking involved a box or jar 'o pre-packed, over preserved, high-sodium food-like stuffs. Effective, yes. Creative and tasty....not so much. In early times, the idea of spending more than the time it takes to press a button on a microwave was crazy talk. It scared me. It was not in my comfort zone. Me open box or jar. Me heat it. Me eat it.
And now. Well, now I want something better. Something that I can identify as food. Not boiled, processed and packaged within an inch of it's life. You shouldn't look at a jar of suace or a box of mixed food stuffs and wonder what it is; then realize that if you spend too much time asking yourself that question.....you won't eat it due to the answer.
Of course I still use quick & easy substitutes. One step at a time. And just because I like the idea of cooking doesn't mean I intend on being the crazy ALL natural, from scratch everytime, cook. Ah, hell no. I'm too lazy for that craziness. But I like the idea that I could learn how to cook new meals. I can decide to make that cake from scratch if I want to. That I can look at the pantry and use a variety of random foods and make a new dish.
Again....in theory.
So here it is. It is Fall (Thank God) and I have been scouring the bookstore, library and my newest tool in my arsenal of cooking awesomeness - The Internet; for recipes that involve pumpkin, squashes, soups & general Fall/Winter comfort foods. I have attempted a rather lovely version of Hamburger Soup ( with my own additions and changes), I have mastered making pumpkin puree, I have enjoyed Twice-baked Mac & Cheese, successfully made *from scratch* Banana Breads & Chocolate Chip cookies, finally learned what the hell a 'rue' is and not burned the crap out of it and roasted a chicken that didn't end up so dry you could play football with it.
What's next you ask?
Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Pie
Chili for the Squadron Chili Cook Off....I will win.....my secret recipe is awesome.
Homemade breads....I need a bread maker.
I'm about to go all Betty Crocker and shit....
