Getting Started

A Curiously Simple Matter

 

Confessions of a Wanna Be

 

I must confess, I am not as good a cook or baker as I want to be.  I'll be 50 in January and this has always bothered me, but now more than ever.  Sure, I make 99% of our meals from scratch, and sure I bake bread, cookies, brownies, cakes, and what not...

 

But how much of it is really tasty? 

 

Honestly, I can do a lot better. 

 

I have identified my two biggest problems. 

1.  Lack of Patience.

2.  Laziness

 

I lack the patience to bake step by step, making sure each step is measured absolutely correctly and warmed, whipped, beat or otherwise combined, baked or cooled properly.  How much success can you expect in baking if you "warm" butter in the microwave (changing it's molecular structure), measure half-hazardly, and drop the probably too old baking powder into the mixing bowl near the end because you've forgotten to add it when it should have been added?

 

Honestly, it's totally my own fault. 

 

I own cookbooks.  I collect them, sort of.  I mean, I'm not as lucky as those who own more than a thousand.  I know some people like that and I admit to a certain amount of cookbook envy.  I'd love to have a few thousand cookbooks.  But really, I do have cookbooks.  Almost 200, in fact.  If you ignore the fact that there are those who have more than a thousand, and concentrate on the fact that some only have one or two, then 200 is a pretty impressive amount.  I don't even want to get into how many cooking magazines I get in the mail each week.  I also have a Master Cook program that I still have to learn how to use, and there are piles of recipes in that.  And then there's the Internet...

 

So why is it that when I pull something out to thaw for dinner, I just throw it in a cooking vessel together with this or that, and hope, usually in vain, that it will taste good?  It isn't as if I don't have more recipes at my disposal than I could use for three meals a day for the rest of my life, right?

 

Honestly, and I am trying to be honest here, I don't "get" the flavor combination thing yet.  I can admit that because I'm baring my soul here.  Some of the flavors I put together just don't belong together. 

 

I also like a LOT of flavor on things.  I can't really taste things that don't have bold, strong flavors.  To compensate for this, I tend to put too much flavor on things.  Take the chicken broth I made last night, for instance.  I cooked a chicken in the pressure cooker and, in this instance, under flavored it.  It was bland.  I'd covered about half of it in water hoping to get a good stock from it, but all I got was a boiled chicken.  We ended up pouring barbecue sauce on the chicken (daughter's favorite) and ate it that way.  Such a waste! 

I was determined not to do that with the stock.  So I put some herbs and spices in the pot along with some dehydrated carrots and celery, and some salt, garlic, and rosemary.  I love rosemary with chicken.  I threw all the bones back in, set it for another half hour, and let it depressurize naturally. 

 

What came out smelled so strong I didn't bother to taste it.  I'm quite certain it's yucky.  I put it in the refrigerator and I'll label it "dilute" and freeze it today and hope for the best.  I think it's the rosemary.  I practically dumped the bottle in.  Almost. 

See what I mean?  I'm a total kitchen disaster sometimes.

 

Oh, sometimes I hit pay dirt and make some pretty good food, I'm not really a total disaster.  But I can be. 

 

This blog is a journal of my attempt to do better in cooking and baking, and really in many areas of my life...but mostly with cooking and baking. 

 

I vow to learn patience and get off my duff and do things right so that I can share recipes and techniques as I do them.  You can help me by showing me ways I can do better, or simply follow along and learn with me.