My cooking track record at home includes broiling a cake mix recipe so it ended up as pudding instead of cake, setting soy sauce on fire and most exciting, giving myself food poisoning from the eggs I cooked one morning! And none of those cooking problems disappeared when I came here, so it goes without saying, it has been interesting.
I could probably devote an entire blog to my cooking experiences, but instead I'll just give you the highlights of the past few weeks.
One of the most interesting parts of cooking over here is the fact that my apartment doesn't have a microwave. You never realize how much you actually use something until you don't have access to it anymore. I have become very acquainted with my oven; we're best buds now. But not having a microwave means I can't warm up left-overs. I have to either reheat them on the oven top or bring them to work. Seriously, it's hard enough to cook for one person as it is, but then adding not being able to warm stuff up really stinks.
The first couple of weeks took a little time getting used to not having microwave. One day I came home from work and was really tired and craving some nachos. So I got all the ingredients out and made my plate up all nice. It looked super delicious, until I turned around with my plate and remembered I didn't have a microwave. Needless to say, I ate cold nachos for dinner that night and it was quite disgusting.
To add to the cooking fun, I also don't have a toaster, which I have discovered is a vital part of my breakfast routine. One morning, I decided to make toast for breakfast. The issue of not having a toaster seemed like a minimal feat at the time. I figured I would just throw it in the oven on broil for a couple of minutes and it will taste exactly the same as toasting it. In theory, this method would have worked if I had not forgotten the toast was in there. The smell of burning bread soon notified me of my mistake, but by this time I was running late for work so I had the breakfast of champions: burnt toast!
Now, while we're on the topic of burning things, (oh yes, it gets worse) I should mention that I burnt coffee. Now I know what you're thinking, "Is that even possible?" And that's exactly what I thought too as I was scrubbing coffee pieces off the bottom of my coffee pot. So yes, it is possible and I accomplished it. Twice.
One of my favorite cooking experiences though has been a joint effort between me and one of the girls I have befriended here. She decided to cook ground beef with veggies and rice on the side. The beef had been in her freezer and we, not knowing any better, just threw it in the frying pan. Well, it was rock solid and by the time we got it where we could chop it up with a spatula, the whole outside layer was completely burnt. So she stood there picking off and throwing away all the pieces that had been destroyed. It worked, and we got it down to a place where the meat was edible, although there was not very much left. The logical solution for that? Add bacon, of course! It was definitely a cooking adventure and surprisingly, the meal turned out pretty good!
As bad as those are, I have had some highlights to my solitary cooking career since I've been here. I recreated my dad's award-winning pico de gallo recipe, I have made pretty delicious freshly-squeezed lemonade and I've made pizza bagels. But most importantly, I have mastered the omelet. I have made eggs quite a few times since I've been here and although hesitant at first, based on prior experience, I have yet to give myself food poisoning again!
***These are some of the things I've cooked here that actually came out decent. Three weeks and I only have four meals to show off, pretty pathetic.***
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