learn how to prepare 10 excellent meals

There are certain things that I want to like but that I just can’t find the special trigger in my brain that makes me like it. Cooking is the one that frustrates me the most. People that I like and who I have many other things in common with seem to love it. LOVE it.

I asked Josh the other day what exactly it was that he enjoyed about the art of cooking and he described something similar to what I’ve heard from other people as well:

1. A lot of the enjoyment is in the closeness to the materials… watching how things in your hand can be combined to create tastes… like a chemist in a way.
2. There’s the cultural element of dishes (where they come from, the kind of people that eat/ate that particular dish, etc).
3. The gadget/consumerist/expert angle of having great tools, good ingredients, fine recipies, feeling like an expert, etc.

Everyone explains it a bit differently but I think that’s the gist of it at least. Of those elements, I think element 1 should be right up my alley. That’s why I like writing, web development, and so many other things. It’s fun building things and discovering the magical properties of the things you’re building with.

To be honest, I think part of the reason I can’t get into cooking is because people take such pride in it. It is a simple pleasure that has a long history and makes you feel like you’re a real human being with worth and who justifies placement alongside all of the other people who participate in the simple pleasure. The same reason why I had trouble buying a house, and getting married, and why I’m not sure about babies. It’s like reading Harry Potter, or voting… you become one of the masses, and people can relate to you and they think they have some kind of special bond with you. Of course, I still end up doing many of these things, but each one eats a bit of my soul. Why do these things give me the shivers? Not sure… probably a good kicking off point for therapy at some juncture… until then, I’m giving up on this cooking biz.

Pasta with garlic, olive oil, chili powder and lemon. Yum!

This is a meal found in a book that Josh’s favorite cook book (Cucina Rustica, page 156). It is perfect because it is fast, and because it is tasty. Angela and Maggie helped me again, and we “free-styled it” (as recommended) by adding shrimp and mushrooms. My only blunder was in not chopping up the garlic, but I think it worked anyway.

I wasn’t able to sneak in a secret ingredient this time… they were watching too closely.

Here is the first excellent meal that I learned. Heavy on the scallops.

I did some shopping over the weekend, learning in the process that grocery shopping in Pike Market is very fun. The people helped me pick the best mushroom, and the scallop guy got .750 lbs as requested on the first try. And it was all super cheap. So much more fun and interactive than QFC.

Anyway, Angela and Maggie helped prepare this recipe, given to me by Jimmy. We freestyled it, as recommended. I even put a little secret magic ingredient in while nobody was looking. Maybe that’s why it tasted a little weird. But we also added some garlic and olive oil since those seem to go well with everything. Oops, Maggie, I think I still have your skillet.

We enjoyed the meal while watching “On the Waterfront” and drinking old wine. I think it tasted pretty good for the first try. Thanks for helping, Angela and Maggie!

I was supposed to do my first meal this week, but I failed. Luckily, the last few posts here have inspired me to try again next week (and I’m going to try to buy ingredients this weekend at the market). I especially liked Consultini’s recommendation to go with 10 essential occasions instead of dish-types.

In the meantime, it’s Christmas Eve and I’m hungry and all I’ve got is canned spaghetti, my staple, a bottle of cheap red wine, and a movie I’ve seen a thousand times before. Still, familiarity is comfortable.

So far, meals I would like to learn how to prepare include:

1. a good curry
2. fish and rice
3. spaghetti or some kind of pasta
4. salad or two
5. a bird
6. something with mushrooms

What else should I include?