Adventures in “Cooking”

When talking about myself, I use the word “cooking” very loosely. It doesn’t matter how closely I follow a recipe, it just never turns out quite right. But that’s what I have a boyfriend for, right? He’s pretty much obligated to eat anything I put in front of him. And luckily, he usually does. And goes for seconds. (Suck up)

The thing that annoys me the most is the time it takes to cook. I’m 86 years old, so I typically like to eat early, as in 5:30 or 6 when I get home from work, because by that time I’m starving. Since I had a free night last night (i.e., NBA playoffs were on and I decided I just couldn’t take another night of it on my TV) I decided to round up ingredients for 3 recipes I’ve been wanting to try, and make as much in advance as I could. I’ve been inspired by my friend Kate, who loves to cook, and whips up far more impressive recipes than I could ever dream of. Baby steps for me.

The first 2 recipes were courtesy of my wonderful friend Alessandra, who should start a healthy cooking catering business. She puts together lunches for her sister who works with me, and I’m always impressed with the dishes she makes. The first was homemade granola bars, with a laundry list of ingredients, half of which I can honestly say I’ve never purchased nor eaten in my life. It would be quite expensive to buy all these ingredients, but luckily Central Market allows you to just purchase the amount you need. So, no 7 pound bag of flaxseed for me! Just 3 ounces. Perfection. Check out Alex’s page for the recipe. I enjoyed one of the bars this morning for breakfast, and was quite pleased. 

The next recipe is pretty easy and also courtesy of Alex: wine marinated flank steak. You just take lots of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and red wine (saving a little for yourself, of course) and marinate the steak for a few hours or a few days, then pop it on a grill and cook it for 5-10 minutes on each side.

The final recipe was probably the most difficult, in terms of ingredients. It’s one of my absolute favorite dishes to order at a restaurant so I don’t know why I think I can replicate it: miso marinated black cod. It was difficult to find these ingredients, and a few substitutions had to be made, and some creative cooking had to be done, but we’ll see if it all was worth it tonight. 

 

Check out these dishes! I think I used every mixing bowl, utensil and ingredient in my kitchen.

 

Tune in tomorrow for a review of the cod recipe!