Who can cook?

Latte And Now For That Latte
1

Mesdames et messiers,

If I understand right, most of us are spending most of their time in coffee shops and restaurants, and very little time at home preparing some fine meal.

I appreciate good food, but cannot cook myself. Living next door to my mother, who is a great cook, I’ve never learned how to even add the right amount of salt in the pasta.

Some of my colleagues find cooking a very relaxing activity. I feel the same, each time I try to pois… er, prepare something in the kitchen. I must do it more, since it makes good also for my work (and mental sanity, if not my stomach…).

What about you? Which is the home where it is advisable to arrange that Scrivener Dinner?

Paolo

2

I wrote a cookbook in Scrivener–well, not a cookbook exactly, but a nonfiction book with 40 recipes. (I will hype it after I turn in the manuscript.) So hopefully I can cook.

3

I can cook. I started learning how as soon as I got my first apartment. I figured it would be cheaper to make my own meals from scratch than to eat at restaurants or get take-out, and probably healthier than eating frozen meals. I was terrible at first, but I got better quickly.

I bake my own whole-wheat bread. I have an excellent tomato sauce for pasta that uses ground bison (or lean ground beef if I can’t get buffalo), and is guaranteed to warm you after a cold day. Even though my wishes I’d stop using the name, she loves my Chernobyl Chicken. She also loves my Agni Burgers, which are oven-baked for half an hour and served on thick slabs of whole wheat bread with cheddar cheese.

I also make a mean pizza. I do the crust myself, and the sauce as well. And I can make an excellent light meal with just some whole wheat pasta, a few chicken breast cutlets, a bit of olive oil, and some spices.

4

Im of to the kitchen, after I posted this, to make a chocolate praline cake, for my daughters Birthday on Monday. Its actually the prototype for an idea Ive got.

Ive been cooking since my mid-teens, so I have no fear of tackling any recipe, from anywhere in the world. I could say Im a very good cook, but, if Im being honest, at least where cooking is concerned, Im actually very good at following well written instructions, in good cookbooks.

Since developing ME, in 1999 cooking was the one thing I could get my head around without to much bother. In that respect of course, I`ve used it as a kind of therapy.

The secret of being a good cook, is to make sure your guests are so bloody hungry, they`ll eat anything :wink:

Take care
Vic

5

Get 'em drunk enough, and they won’t care if you serve 'em shit on a shingle.

6

home.att.net/~magnoliaholidays/pralines.html

Looks like a dogs dinner, but tastes and smells bloody gorgeous.
I don`t recommend praline for icing cakes. Best used for the praline pecan candies.

Take care
vic
MyPicture.jpg

7

I’d love to know who these writers are that can afford to sit in coffee shops all day and eat in restaurants every night…

Yes, I can cook. Like Matthew, I learned as soon as I lived on my own. Nothing will teach you to cook faster than making terrible food, but being too poor to eat out :wink:

8

I wonder if Wock ever wrote and pigeon focused recipe books?

:smiling_imp:

9

d y mean, as in [i]stir fried....Wock[/i]…heee!..hee!..he! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

It`s only 10.30am on a Sunday morning, but, the old sense of humour, is as razor sharp and blisteringly fast as ever…is there no limit to it…?8)

vic

10

Vic -

ME sucks. I’ve had it 17 years.

I enjoy your posts to the forum. Thanks for making me laugh!

Take care of yourself,

Karen

11

Vic and Karen, do you mean ME as in ME/CFS. Had a diagnosis of CFS in 1993. I no longer have the condition but it really trashed my life for about 13 years. It’s one reason I was an ‘older’ student who recently finished her Ph.D.! You are right. It sucks. You are also right that Vic is funny. Sometimes a bit TOO funny…:wink:

Alexandria

12

Well, I had a stash of Army surplus MREs to fall back on if I screwed up, but MREs have something in common with their intended audience: they don’t have an exit strategy.

13

My wife can cook. Man she cooks all kinds of things I have never seen on a plate yet each thing is quite tasty and actually good for ya.

Myself I can cook three things well.

I can make a chili so hot I call it Hell’s Fire and Damnation. Take paint of a car if it set too long. Plenty of jalapeños and Cayenne pepper. ANyone who eats looks as if they had been watching the Lifetime channel, cry me a river :slight_smile: from the tears that flow.

I can make “Dirty eggs” so good your arteries start shaking and you bleed brown gravy.

And sometimes on a rare occasion I cook “Mustard Plasters” which looks and sounds disgusting but is one of the best steaks you will ever sink your teeth into because it involves science! lol

I had a friend of mine who was going to chef school or something fancy like that and I served him a Mustard Plaster Steak and he loved it so much he wanted to have that on his menu once he opens his restaurant.

So if ye ever get a chance to experiment I suggest cooking a mustard plaster but only if you have an open flame (campfire or charcoal with oak cinders mixed in the charcoal). You can cook it on a gas grill as well. But remember it does involve a little extra cleanup.

:slight_smile:

14

In the interest of full disclosure:*

Ajvar • Asparagus, Grilled w/ Caper-Champagne Vinaigrette • Bananas Foster Simulacra • Black Beans & Yellow Rice • Brittle, Pumpkin Seed • Bruschetta al Pomodoro • Burgers, Walnut • Buttermilk Pancakes • Butternut Squash Balsamico • Cake, Spiced Nectarine • Call of the Wild Chowder • Carrots, Cinnamon-Spiced • Carrots, Cumin-Spiced • Carrots, Transcendental • Chai Chai Chai • Chai Sahni • Cheesecake Devizes • Chicken Apricot w/ Almonds • Chicken Broth Vitalizer • Chicken, Capering • Chicken, Cacciatora • Chicken Cordon Bleu • Chicken Diane • Chicken Marsala • Chicken, Olive Green • Chicken Pot Pie • Chicken Scaloppine • Chicken Shiitake Cakes • Chicken in Mustard Dill • Chicken in Tomato-Saffron Vinaigrette • Chili, Green Black Bean • Chili Kielbasa • Chili, Three Bean • Chinese Chicken-Broccoli • Chocolate, Bittersweet on Baguette w/ Sea Salt • Cinnamon Twists • Cookies, Ranger • Cookies, Sugar • Cream of Fungal Soup • Cream of Tuna • Creme Fraiche Simulacra • Cucumber & Yoghurt Salad • Dum Aloo • Fajita Beans & Rice • Figs in Red Wine • Fried Vic • Grapefruit, Broiled Spiced • Granita, Strawberry-Balsamic • Hot Chocolate Francais • Ice Cream, Strawberry • Kali Dal • Macaroons, Coconut • Mughal Garam Masala • Mushrooms, Wild Saute • Paella Valenciana • Panna Cotta • Parsnip Crisps • Pasta Arugula • Pasta Cannellini w/ Peppers • Pasta Pecorino & Pepper • Pasta, Pomodori alla Modo Fresco • Pasta, Tex-Mex • Pasta, Thousand Herb • Pasta, Truffled Wild Mushroom • Pasto Ragazzo • Patatas Bravas • Peppers, Roasted • Pie, Apple Pastis Quick • Pie, Cherry-Rhubarb • Pie, Brandy-Plum • Pie, Perfect Blue • Pie, Unimpeachable • Pizza, Basic Mushroom • Pizza Dough Giada • Pizza Margherita • Pomegranate Sauce, Ah-Ping • Portabellos Stuffed Ah-Ping • Potatoes, Devil-Roasted • Potatoes, Hashed Browns • Potatoes, Mashed Ultimate • Potatoes, Roasted • Potatoes, Twice-Baked • Quattro Fromaggi • Quiche, Smoked Tomato-Basil • Raspberry Puree • Red Peppers, Balsamic • Red Peppers, Tasty Sauteed • Rice, Spanish Salad • Rolls, Refrigerator • Romaine, Panfried Hearts of • Sauce, Hopped-Up Tomato Basil • Sauce, Quattro Fromaggi • Sausage, Turkey • Scriv Word Salad • Shallot Confit, Roasted • Shiitake Teriyaki Mushrooms • Soup, Gazpacho Andaluz • Soup, Mexican Cheese • Soup, Potato, Cream of • Soup, Tomato, Roasted • Tomato-Olive Relish • Tomatoes Roasted Masala • Trés Leches • Turkey Picadillo • Tuna & White Bean Salad • Vegetable Patties with Chutney • Vegetables, Root with Calvados • Vinaigrette, Caper Champagne • Warm Spring Vegetable • Wine-Roasted Shallots • Whatever •

*I have here held back on one recipe which is so incredible that not even the name of it can be revealed. That is for your safety not mine.

15

Gr,

can y` make egg and chips :confused:

I wonder what a plate of Fried Vic, with a Scriv Word Salad on the side tastes like! ughhh!! I think it would take: a pretty jaded; jaundiced; undiscerning; uneducated and decidedly unsophisticated palate to apreciate it. I think I`d pass on that one.

Take care

Fried Vic :laughing:

16

I’ll have:

Carrots, Transcendental
Scriv Word Salad
Whatever
and Chocolate, Bittersweet on Baguette w/ Sea Salt

javascript:emoticon(’:)’)

And, yes, Alexandria, here in the US my diagnosis is CFS; but there is an effort being made to change the name to ME/CFS: afairname.org/index.cfm

Glad to hear that you recovered from it! I’m quite sick and am learning how to have fun while living a quiet life on the sofa.

-karen

17

My CFS was a result of a terrible case of EBV infection followed by a years of immune system deficiency, no diagnosis and the build up of secondary infections. I found a couple of doctors around five years ago who really understood the condition, at least my form of it, and were able to help me recover and attain to a state of relative health. I still have to do a lot to maintain it, but I do consider myself extremely fortunate!

I definitely support the move to augment the name! I ran up against the same prejudice we all have–the trivialization of the condition! The name really has a lot to do with it, I think.

As for cooking, I find it boring and tedious but when I give it a go, things generally turn out pretty well. I’m trying to start small and build up to more involved dishes.

Off to eat out at the local Thai restaurant. Now THAT’s my kind of cooking–they do it and bring it to me! :wink:

Alexandria

18

Hang on, I’m confused. You can recover from ME?

I have a very good friend with it and I was under the impression you were stuck with it for life.

19

Karen and Alexandria(Chuckle Bunny :wink:)

I was gonna say that your very kind words have made my day, but I would be lying if I did. I think it would be truer to say, your lovely sentiments have made my first 42 days of 2008 :laughing: Thank You both!

Im glad I dont have to share a kitchen with gr. He got some atrocious eating habits!! I`d hate to see the state of his innards.

Chronic Fatigue, is a symptom of many disparate diseases, and whilst, with ME it appears to be a fairly dominant one in most cases, it isnt by any means the only symptom of the disease, thats severely debilitating. So logically, it would be unreasonable to define an illness (which is what a name does), by just one of the symptoms that contribute to the Syndrome as a whole.

Post Viral Syndrome, at least here in the UK, is a widely used and is probably a more realistic name for the condition, after ME.

PVS acknowledges the, likely/probable, cause of the multi-faceted residual effects of a viral attack. So what you could come across, over here in UK, is ME/CFS/PVS

Myalgic Encephalopathy, as opposed to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, as far as I`m aware, is the more accurate of the two names, since …myelitis infers inflamation of the brain, whereas in reality, nobody in the ME community now believes the condition involves inflamation, hence,…opathy.

Id better cut this short, or else Capn Blountll :open_mouth: be kicking me of the forum. Ive already been kick of one forum for obscenity, very embarrassing :blush:

Take care
Loads o luv
Vic

20

Hmm… I suppose I’m not too bad at cooking. I’m a vegetarian, and when I became veggie back in my teens there weren’t the number of vegetarian ready meals there are nowadays (thank you, Linda McCartney!), so I learned to cook a few decent veggie meals over the years. I’m not saying I’m a chef - I daresay Gordon Ramsay would make disgusted puking faces at my fare - but I can knock up a decent meal, and enjoy cooking with the iPod blasting out Mudhoney and James in the background from time to time.
Best,
Keith