Tag Archives: cooking woes

Guest Post! #BachelorCook Round 1

Hello everyone! So, as I mentioned a week ago, our friend Krysti declared her interest in cooking from our fridge. Something about it having more content than her own fridge. I agreed to let her cook for us on the condition she wrote a post about it for you all. I thought having someone else’s thoughts & comments might be a fun change. Upon reading this (and adding my commentary in the footnotes), I am now SURE having someone else’s thoughts & comments is a fun change. Hopefully, you all will encourage Krysti to do this again, and I can convince some of our other bachelor friends to do the same. IT’S AN ADVENTURE.

Thus begins Krysti’s quest…

Natasha and I have toyed with the idea of doing a guest blog post in varying degrees of seriousness the past few months1, then all of our dreams suddenly came true last week.… Continue reading →

[123] Spaghetti with Clams

We actually made this recipe from Cooking for Two way back in February. At least, that’s what the date stamp on the photos say.

I don’t remember much about it. Other than enjoying it, I recall we had a moment or two of wondering if the clams were going to kill us. I don’t, however, remember why. Maybe typing it up will remind me. I hope so, or I’m going to panic making it a second time, and that won’t do.

Having rediscovered it, I think I am likely to make it again soon. Though, do clams have a “season” the way salmon and swordfish do? I don’t think so, but if they do, it might have to wait.

Boo to that. I like clams. I especially like that Seafood Watch says they’re never worse than a “best choice” “good alternative”.… Continue reading →

Next time, I’m doing it my old way.

I went to brine my turkey today. As I mentioned yesterday, I ended up with a 16.55 lb turkey for these festivities.

I wanted to do something simpler than last year’s brine, both in terms of set up & flavor. So, I went poking around. Like last year, someone at one of my other internet haunts recommended a site that I thought looked great. No boiling, clear instructions on just how much salt to use per gallon, instructions on time.

Basically, drop your turkey into your brining bag, dump in enough water to submerge (or basically so), then dump in the appropriate amount of salt. Brine for 12 – 24 hours. (Note, I do not have a bowl large enough, and they do recommend turkey in bag, then whole thing in bowl, THEN water and so on.)… Continue reading →

The morning after, and other reasons cooking is an easy habit to fall out of.

I mentioned in the last post that I haven’t been cooking much. This hasn’t changed, but I’m digging myself out and back into the game. Or trying to. It turns out that, no matter how much I enjoy cooking, it’s an extremely easy habit for me to fall out of. A natural born chef, I am not.

The simplest reason, of three I shall list, for why I revert to old, non-cooking habits, is that Bill and I are really bad at following a plan, especially in the throes of “spring fever”. The other day I had a dinner plan, had started a small amount of prep for it, and then walked to Bill’s work to pick him up. And then we said, “Let’s take a walk!”… Continue reading →

Beans tonight

Well. I seem to have let the blog go for awhile. My apologies. To be perfectly honest, life has gotten very much in the way, and I dropped the ball.

Which is part of why the plan for tonight is beans. Specifically “this bean recipe”:http://www.ranchogordo.com/html/rg_cook_beans_primer.htm with cannellini beans (from Rancho Gordo). The beans were a gift from a woman I met at Edible Institute, “Jill Richardson”:http://www.lavidalocavore.org/ who raved about them. I’m excited to be trying them, I have to admit. The founder of Rancho Gordo, Steve Samdo, made me more interested in beans than anyone else ever has, back when he spoke at Edible Institute.

What does this have to do with life getting in the way, and my dropping the ball? Mostly that it’s a really simple thing to make, and it doesn’t take a lot of ingredients.… Continue reading →