cook more

Well I have been cooking more (actually baking)thats a start right? I have been seeing this guy and we get together once a week and I make dessert and he makes dinner =D it’s pretty awesome!

im moving into my new house next week and once i get settled i think im going to cook more. i havent cooked properly in ages with living in student digs and i used to love it!

For mine and my boyfriends 1yr anniversary we went to vegas. But the night before we left I cooked him an amazing dinner. I even impressed myself! I ventured out and used a cookbook I got for Christmas. Did all the shopping and the prep work, and made a delicious meal. He loved it and even asked when I was going to make it again! =)

food is delicious. even more delicious when I cook it myself! (or with Pete.)

It’s amazing, but I have been living with my now husband for a bit less than a year, and already I feel that I’m repeating the same recipes over and over. Also, there’s the situation with my lack of consistency in cooking, in part because I feel bad that I’m repeating the same dishes all the time. I want to receive him with a hot meal each day (not once in a while) after he comes home from work, and for it to be a varied menu, so we don’t get bored with home-cooked meals.

The meal we prepared last night: chicken fillets in honey marinade, couscous, some plum tomatoes again (‘cos they’re just so good), a mix of peas, corn and paprika, and curry sauce. Very good, yum!

I did my bolognesa sauce, bought lasagna pre-cooked pasta and put together with yagurt (jocoque) yummy-yummy

If I can cook all my meals through the end of August, I’ll check this off as complete. So far everything is still going well… I made fried tofu and vegetable fried rice on Thursday, then learned how to make spring rolls.

I plan to eventually learn to make croquettes/korokke, homemade tortillas, a vegetarian adaptation of my chili recipe, homemade pierogies, vegetable soup and vegetarian potstickers.

On Monday, I had a cooking lesson with my aunt from Manila. I learned new and exciting recipes that I think I can actually do! Among them are: pork shumai, grilled shrimp, 2 types of beefsteak, chicken on potatoes, and grilled eggplant. Not to mention the dessert crema de fruta! I couldn’t believe that I was able to make these things – I feel such a sense of accomplishment! I think I can realistically expect to make these dishes myself in the future for my family.

So I add the above dishes to my usual recipe repertoire: spaghetti with meatballs, broiled tilapia, fresh salsa, roast chicken, kare-kare, nilagang baka, paella.

The more I cook the more cooking tips I remember. Unfortunately I always remember after I make the mistake. A couple weeks back I made congee, but didn’t properly skim the stock as it was cooking :( Maybe I should write down tips as I remember them so I don’t have to relearn again.

Other tips:
-When making yogurt, make sure the starter is completely mixed and don’t disturb the yogurt while incubating.
-Add a pinch of baking soda to sour spaghetti sauce if you don’t want to use sugar.
-Substitute mashed banana or applesauce for an egg while baking.
-Always start stock with cold water.

Today I made pan-fried gnocchi with garlic, tomato, and spinach :)