Food...

[annwfyn]

So, this weekend has, so far, been all about the glorious food.

I went into Chinatown yesterday with pierot, ksirafai and housemonkeytm. First, there was lovely tasty dim sum in Chinatown, followed by a wander around Chinatown where I found cherries and Jon found strange green stuff that you use to make sushi. We also found a Place of Cake Heaven (but bought nothing, although we gazed) and very strange spikey vegetables.

When we were done there, we wandered to Bar Ciao, and ate incredible and mind blowing ice cream. Both Ginnie and I rather proved that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, but thankfully Jon and jez were there for us, like the large bellied saints that they are.

And today has been a day of pottering and a day in which I have decided I need to cook more. I am, therefore, going to try and set Thursday evening aside for cooking. And not just randomly throwing together some pasta and sauce, but rather looking through cook books, getting proper ingredients and cooking properly from scratch. This Thursday I think I am going to try and cook spiced lamb kofta. And it will be good.

And if at the end of this I am fatter than I was before, it will all be from good food and not from crap and take out. And that will be lovely and glorious.

It's also making me ponder. Why don't I cook more? I mean, I claim that I can't cook, but that's mostly a lie. When I'm on holiday in Cornwall, I cook. Admittedly, I'm nowhere as good as either pierot or molez, who have traditionally been the cooks of our cottage holidays, but I can cook a decent spaghetti bolognaise, and I used to do a really good mushroom risotto, not to mention my cheese souffle. So why don't I cook?

I should cook more. I will cook more. Even if I just start by picking out a random recipe from a cook book on Thursdays and actually taking my time over it. And I will learn to cook properly. I swear.

Comments

[adze.livejournal.com]

Probably the same reason I don't - laziness.

Or, to be more accurate it's very easy to eat poorly, or eat well when someone else is cooking. When left to my own devices, I end up thinking that cooking is a lot of effort for not that much reward, and therefore I don't bother.

From my point of view, as well, it's easier to cook for a few people than it is to cook for one, so I tend to only put effort in when there are people around who will eat. One thing I've thougt of is trying to get people together and take turns cooking every once in a while. But, it's tricky to organise given how busy we all normally are.

[richardiii.livejournal.com]

Good show! Cooking is a wonderful thing!

[omentide.livejournal.com]

Cooking is good. I find it very cathartic.

For me, with books and cookery writing, it's very important to find someone with whom I can empathise, who seems to understand food the way I do.

I saw Madhur Jaffrey play Medea and I thought she was really bad in it and, since then, I haven't enjoyed cooking her recipes so much. Though I still do.

I adore Claudia Rodin. I love the way she writes and I love the food.

Though, tonight, I cooked a Turkish recipe from a Turkish book I had to translate from Turkish so it was cooking and language practice all in one. It was called meaty aubergines in a saucepan.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

That's not a bad idea, for experimenting. I get into lazy ruts here - a lot of the regular stuff I do is timed so that when Mark calls to say he's leaving the client's office I can get started.