Cooking

Too tired to write at the moment after a migraine the other day - and now they ask about cooking. Will have to think about this one. I don't cook much at all - well nothing that takes more than 10 minutes anyway. It's hard when you live alone. 

Questions, as always, come from Bev at Sunday Stealing. 

1.  How often do you make food and eat it?

Most days. Not that it's hard stuff to make, but I do prepare my own food most days. 

2.  Do you consider toasting bread, preparing instant noodles, or boiling an egg to be cooking? Why or why not?

Yes - but I'm a better cook than that when I put my mind to it. You're preparing your own food when you boil, toast etc. It may not be hard, but there are people out there who can't do this. So the simple stuff is cooking.  Boiling an egg is a bit of an art anyway. 

3.  What’s your favorite dish to make?

I love making sweet things. I make particularly good melting moments / Yoyo biscuits. Anything to do with baking, and I'm in. (For those seeing Bev's comment, Melting Moments/Yoyos have custard powder in them - which is a British/Australian thing used to make runny custard for puddings and desserts and the like - also used in some biscuits - but it's a pantry staple in Britain and Australia)

4.  Cooking or baking: what’s more fun? What’s more difficult?

I like doing both and I don't think either are harder. I'm not great at pastry, but I'm up for anything else. 

5.  Who did most of the cooking in your house when you were growing up?

Mum did pretty much all of the cooking when I was a kid. Dad could grill chops and make baked beans and that was about it. As we got older, we did some stuff around the house and helped get dinner ready. Prepping and doing the veggies for dinner was my job. 

6.  How have you learned the cooking skills that you have?

Most of them through Mum and my grandmother - the rest through all sorts of other people who've passed things along to me. My friend Geetangeli taught me how to make her Black Chicken Curry - love it. 

7.   Have you ever taken a cooking course? If so, what did you learn? If not, would you like to do one? What would you like to learn?

Not that I can remember. I'd love to do a Thai or Balinese cooking course if we can ever get back there. 

8.   Have you tried cooking food from another culture? What did you prepare? How was it?

I'm pretty adept at doing the odd Malaysian curry, thanks to Geetangeli. With YouTube, you can learn antything, really. I've been making this curry for 30 years. 

9.   Is it cost-effective to do your own cooking? Can you save money by cooking?

Absolutely. Especially if you do some of your shopping at the local markets. 

10.  Would you rather do the cooking or do the washing up afterwards?

Ah, as I love it when people cook for me, I'm very happy to do the washing up. I like cooking for people too, but it's just great when people cook for you. Doesn't happen enough. 

11.  Do you use recipes to cook? If so, where do you get the best recipes? Do you get them from friends, family, online, or from cookbooks?

A bit of both. All of my grandmother's recipes are very approximate. I've got some great cook books, but sometimes it's great to mix it up a bit. Have also found some wonderful recipes on the internet. it's amazing what is out there. My Lemon Polenta Cake recipe came from online. That has a lot of fans. 

12.  Have you ever tried to prepare some food and just totally ruined it? What happened?

Yes. Lets just say chilli and cheese is not always a good idea. 

13. Do you prefer cooking at home or eating out at a restaurant? Why?

I will admit to preferring to eating out, but that is because I live alone and when I do cook, I like to cook for people. Eating out is more social than eating at home, with more choice. But that is the only reason why. Also, there's no washing up when you go out. 

14. Is cooking a social activity for you? Do you like to do it with other people, or do your prefer to do it alone?

I love when you make cooking a social activity, but it rarely happens for me. I do help out when I go to Jonella and Blarney's when they let me. At Christmas, at Blarney's place, I get to do lots of jobs in the kitchen - glazing the ham is my big job then. 

15. Do you have a lot of cooking equipment? How often do you use it all? Do you have any pieces of equipment that you rarely ever use?

I have a lot of baking basics, a few pots and pans, a small food processer and some implements I inherited from my grandmother - I love her egg beater - seems strange, but I love it. I'm about to have a kitchen cull and get rid of things I never use. But my cake tins, mixing bowls  and a few other bits and bobs, they stay. They get used. I like a practical kitchen.

Today's Song: