Learn to cook

wow, i’m so proud of myself!
the salmon i made tonight came out AMAZING!!!
i used a jet stream oven.
spiced it up with mayonnaise, mustard, maple syrup and a little garlic oil. soooo good. i kind of improvised with some of the ingredients and amazed myself!

I grilled for the first time by myself; grilled chicken and veggies. I’m not afraid to try new foods and cook by myself anymore!

The last few days have been a little disastrous to say the least because I keep forgetting that I’ve put stuff in the oven.
Yesterday was “soggy overcooked pasta with black inedible onion, shriveled mushrom and something that used to be a tomato, bake”. This morning I found out what cheese on toast with tomatoes looks like after half an hour under a grill. Last pieces of bread too.

When I’m using a recipe I usually set a timer, but if it’s something I know how long it takes I never do. It’s only when I forget “whatever-it-is” is in there that things go wrong. I should start setting one, I obviously need it.

I’ve successfully made potato, leek and cheese cakes with a white sauce, and shortbread. Made them both from recipes but ideally I’d like to be able to cook them without using recipes and then be able to adapt them.
This week I’m hoping to try to make some type of savoury tart, and some type of cake/party food for my friends birthday tomorrow. I have some agar-agar from a while ago so I could perhaps attempt jelly? (I NEVER tried it through my childhood years because at most parties the parents made it with gelatin. Quite excited to try it!). I’d love to try lemon jelly, but worrried that the acidity may affect the agar? I’ll experiment later.

My cooking skills are kinda stupid. The stuff I know how to make is either insanely easy or stupidly hard (like enchiladas with homemade sauce). I want to learn intermediate and more advanced cooking.

My husband does most of the cooking, but I want to be able to make delicious meals like he does. So I’ve determined to experiment on a new recipe once a week and get a cookbook binder going.

Today, went through the “Cooking for 2” magazines I have and dog-eared recipes I want to try. I also took a look at all the recipes I marked in the recipe books my mother got me years ago when I first moved out.

I’d love to learn to cook for my friends and for myself, but I’m so afraid of burning myself.
Every time I watch a cooking show I wanna do that too!
I’m going to start off small, and work my way up.
Wish me luck.

That’s it, that’s my goal for November… to make myself one full meal, that I cook. Hope I can do it.

I made my first (sucessful) omelette today – previously they’ve always turned out like chunky scrambled eggs for some reason. Only a little step but I’m happy.
I had some eggs, mushrooms and a little courgette left – all of which were going off, so with a little added cheese an omeltette seemed the sensible idea.
Had the slightly off-putting present of my flat mate hovering behind me the whole time which alwasy puts me off. EVERY-time she hears me go into the kitchen she comes out her room and comes in just to stand there and talk to me (with the added unhelpful cooking “tips” – which aren’t really tips but unconstructive critisism and snide comments). If I wasn’t planning on moving out soon I may have to tell her that the “tips” really aren’t needed.

Anyway, I’m happy the omelette turned out not just edible, but delicious. It’s one of the basic things I should just know how to make.

This was a quiet month for cooking progress. In October I made the following:

-various incarnations of my beloved tomato salad
-coleslaw
-buttery couscous
-fetta triangles
-vegetable ragout
-lamb leg steak in red wine garlic sauce
-white fish fillets with pine nuts

No problems what so ever! Making food is now somthing I can proudly say that I handel :D it’s only your fear of failure that is in your way of an great meal! You learn to cook with principle of “trial and error” and with an open mind! :D It’s a lot of funn. That’s how I did it. The down side is the laziness to doo the dishes, but it’s not such a big deal to do them :)