This is a first of a very long list.
I like food. I like cooking, in theory. However, in practice, over the past few months I have developed the rather depressing habit of living off mediocre delivery. I order 40 dollars worth of food, once or twice a week, and continue to live off of it until it runs out.
Now, I've been trying to stop this habit because chicken tikka masala and saag paneer for four days in a row, twice a day is depressing enough. Once you add in the fact that fresh vegetable consumption is minimal and summed up by the tomato slice as garnish on the side, the practice is recast as a truly pathetic way of living.
At any rate, my cooking as of late is limited to the microwaving of frozen chicken pot pies, plain salad greens eaten with hands, and the occasional boiling of pasta. And coffee-making.
So can someone please explain to me why I spend over an hour a day reading cooking and food blogs? I read thekitchn. I read chow, even though it blows. I read eater, even though that blows too. I read all the New York Times food blogs. I always read the dining section of the Times as soon it comes out (often Wednesday, 12 am on the internet). I read Not Eating Out in NY. I read Grub Street.
And that's just the list of what I read every fucking day. It doesn't even add in the websites and blogs I'll stumble onto and then waste several hours looking through their entire back catalogue.
An ex once pointed out that I spend more time reading about cooking and food than I do actually cooking. Or eating for that matter. And that I prefer to do the former more than the latter.
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in front of the television. Saturdays were all about watching a huge block of cooking shows on PBS. My favorite was Jacques Pépin's Cooking with Claudine. It consisted of the most awesome French chef ever cooking with his daughter, who was relatively inept in the kitchen.
A common interaction was this:
--Dad, what should I do?
--Oh, you can chop the onions. (all in a wonderful french accent)
--How should I chop them, like this?
--Non, non (tries to take knife away)
--I can do it Dad (refuses to let go of knife).
It was sort of lovely and adorable, as they were obviously very fond of one another even as they got a little bit testy.
Now as pbs no longer has six hour blocks of awesome cooking shows any longer (Jacques and Julia, anyone?), that stuff I supposed being relegated to the crapfest of cable, my only option is to read this stuff on the internet. At any rate, if I were ever to start cooking regularly, I already know plenty. Or at least I've seen them do it on tv, and it can't be that hard at home. Right?
ps. I know I've been gone for a long time. Upcoming posts: Friends! Baseball! School?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
exhausting but worth ti!
just realized how that reads... hahaha
what i meant was it may be exhausting to update but it's worth it for me to read
DUDE.... WNET ran it's cooking show block on Sundays, maybe that's why you can't find it on Saturdays.
Pepin's daughter was annoying. And ugly. But Pepin ain't no prize heffer, either, I guess. I liked Ming and Yan the best.
I found this is a useful addition to my reader, just for the searching. When does the newest season of Top Chef start?
When it comes to the internet and recipe finding I am a firm firm believer in the church of Martha. I love her.
But for actual cooking, the rare times it happens, I generally just refer to the Joy of Cooking.
I hated Ming but I liked YAN. YAN CAN COOK! LIKE THIS! *chop chop chop*
Jacques and Julia was actually terrifying because once in a while Julia would have total senior moments and it seemed like she would accidentally cut a finger off. But her senior moments were AMAZING when they consisted of "of course more liquor. why wouldn't one add more liquor? and more butter! MORE BOOZE AND BUTTER!"
Post a Comment