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I've recently discovered the joy of gourmet cooking. No kidding! The King of Cold Spaghettios has been watching the Food Network quite a bit. I even have a few favorite shows: Emeril Live. This guy can cook. And he's fun ... his show actually inspired me to cook real food. My first dish was something I've longed for since my visit to New Orleans two years ago -- jambalaya. Not from a box ... the real deal, from scratch. I like to use crawfish tails and andouille sausage. I also made chicken and sausage gumbo, and I even got the roux right the first time! Of course, I underestimated the cooking time, so my family didn't get to eat until 8:00 that night, but they said it was worth it. I've even dug out the deep-fryer and whipped up some fried crawfish tails, along with a home-made Creole tartar sauce. For somebody who spent the last 30 years nuking frozen burritos and actually messing up Minute Rice, this is a big deal. Finally, something to do on those Full Moon weekends :-) 1/29/02 Well, I haven't kept up with this too well on the web site. I've been cooking all over the place, and even hosted Thanksgiving for my extended family! A picture of the turkey is forthcoming ;-) I'm very much into the Cajun and Creole cooking. I've added a few new dishes, including crawfish etoufee and Natchitoces meat pies. I'm going to try Bananas Foster this weekend (for the Super Bowl). Iron Chef. This show is just a riot. I wouldn't eat a lot of the stuff these Japanese chefs prepare, but it all looks really cool. Where else can you see chefs square off in an arena like Monday Night Football? It's a one-hour culinary duel in an outrageous setting! 1/29/02 I have to admit that I'm addicted to Iron Chef. FoodTV plays three different episodes each weekend, and I usually tape and watch two of the three (if not all three). It's gotten to the point where I recognize reruns and I'm starting to predict some of the cooking techniques they use for things like eel and lobster, which they have used on several occasions. I even have a favorite Iron Chef (Sakai Hiroyuki). HELP ME! Sara's Secrets. Sara Moulton cooks food step-by-step, and explains everything very simply. This is a nice, quiet show to watch on a Saturday morning. It's also a good place for a rank amateur like me to pick up on some of the more mundane things not discussed in the other shows. Homestyle Cooking Now that I've overcome my allergy to the kitchen, there are a few recipes from Mom that I'd like to try. In fact, just the other day I made one of my all-time favorite summer casseroles, and it really was quite easy! What have I been afraid of all these years? If you want, you can check out the recipe. I've also looked at one of my favorite summer desserts, and it also looks to be pretty simple. Mom's got a recipe for a kick-butt Cherry Torte that looks like cheesecake, but instead has a filling of marshmallow and Cool Whip. I'll post the recipe by the end of the week. |