cooking

Cooking Freak

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It’s no secret I love cooking. I’m charting my own voyages into making Japanese Curry here. I cook for friends and co-workers. I enjoy it.

Now not everyone has to like cooking, though I suggest you give it a shot to see if you can at least make it an enjoyable task. But I’m starting to feel like someone who likes cooking and enjoys cooking is extremely rare. It’s a little odd, truth be told, and a little unsettling.

For instance, right now I’m trying to date. My cooking seems to inevitably come up when people contact me, making me think it must be a rare trait especially in men. In Silicon Valley. In their 40’s.

OK, it probably is, but still.

It’s also remarkable among people I meet. I know people are busy, but between health concerns, the price of food, the fun of cooking and the fact you can make some kickass meals in a short time, I wonder why more people don’t cook. Hell, I lost 23 pounds almost entirely due to diet changes, you’d think people would want a piece of that. Also my curried split pea soup entirely rules.*

It’s to the point where I feel a little WEIRD cooking like I do. And this is when there’s all sorts of food-related reality show like ‘Hell Cupcakes” or “Diner Mud Wrestling” or whatever. I don’t know, most reality TV without Tim Gunn gives me hives.**

I guess what bugs me is that it shouldn’t seem odd. Cooking is one of those skills that’s good for us, that’s part of our history, that’s part of good health, and that’s fun when taught right (or at least fun when you’re done). I’d like to see it more appreciated and applied. Maybe there’s some kind of “Cooking is Cool” thing we could do for kids, or get Hipsters on board “I cook because it’s not mainstream.”***

Also cooking is how we understand our bodies, our environment, and how we live. To cook and understand is to understand what keeps us going in the first place. To not understand that is risky.

Ironically, I don’t think everyone needs to cook all the time. I think that it would probably be more resource efficient to create more restaurant, store, and delivery services doing same-day-prepared healthy meals. But cooking at least gives you some knowledge of what to look for.

It just feels weird to like it, do it, and have it be regarded as noteworthy.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

* Really, it does.
** Tim Gunn just makes me think “Damn I wish I looked that good.”
*** OK maybe not.

Italian Dressing Mix – Plus!

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I’ve been experimenting with this mix over time, and frankly am pretty pleased with this version.  It’s a way to make Italian dressing – but you can do a lot more with it (thus the Plus).  Best of all, you can mix it with spices and ingredients you probably have lying around the house.

First you need these ingredients.

  • 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried, ground thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1 tsp salt

Take all the ingredients and mix them together in a jar or other container (preferably the one you’ll keep it in).  If you have a mortar and pestle it’s even better as you can crush things together, but I just mix them together and crush them a bit with the back of a spoon.  I probably need a mortar and pestle to be a cool cook.

To make dressing, just blend 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil (or another oil), 1 teaspoon of White Wine or Rice Wine Vinegar, and 1/2 tablespoon of the mix.  It’s best when you put it in a container, shake it, and let it sit in a refrigerator for awhile so the flavors blend.  Shake again before you serve.

This is a bit high in fat (olive oil, after all), but delicious.  It also goes far – it’s usually enough for a good 2 or so cups of vegetables.  I particularly like it on baby spinach, tomatoes, and broccoli – and diced tomatoes on spinach.

If you want more, merely scale it up.  You can try other vinegars, but I like these ones.

However there’s more you can do . . .

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Recipe: Quick Pasta Caprese

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This is a fast recipe that lets you make a classy, tasty dish quickly – and you can do it with ingredients many of us keep around anyway.  This is for a single serving, so scale accordingly.  It also makes a decent meal without a side dish.

For the pasta:

2-3 oz dried pasta.

Sauce:

  • 1 medium tomato, diced
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp dried basil (or about 1/2 of shredded basil)
  • 1/8 tbsp pepper
  • a few dashes salt (3-4)
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • 1 slice mozzarella cheese (optional for vegans, but it’s not true caprese without cheese – that being said I don’t use the cheese much myself)

(note, you can leave out the tomato and have a rather tasty coating for 2 servings pasta)

  1. Mix olive oil, basil, pepper, salt, garlic, and cheese.
  2. Add tomato to mix, coat thoroughly.  Let sit at least 15 minutes in the fridge to allow flavors to blend)
  3. Cook pasta and drain thoroughly.
  4. Mix pasta with tomato mix, serve.