Friday five: cooking
May. 7th, 2020 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack1. How do you feel about cooking?
Generally fairly pleased. I like cooking food I like, and I like it when I can make something other people appreciate, and I don't have to do it often enough it's too much of a chore.
I used to feel guilty that it was a grown-up thing I was supposed to be able to do but couldn't really. Now I feel like even if I can't cook properly I can make do well enough.
2. How often do you cook a meal (from mostly fresh ingredients, not something ready-assembled that you just heat)?
Between the two of us we probably cook a bit more than half the evenings. Somewhat more now we're at home full time during lockdown. Usually one of us takes charge of the meal and the other helps a little or a lot. The other evenings we reheat leftovers, or heat preprepared food, or are ones where we planned a takeaway, or have other plans and snack on something simple.
For lunch I usually don't have the brain to cook at all, it's almost always leftovers, preprepared, or someting simple.
My brain used to have a clear line for what counted as "cooking" as opposed to not cooking. Basically, boiling water, even just for pasta, felt like cooking. Oven chips and pizza didn't. But now it's fuzzier. I can cook pasta more on autopilot without feeling like I have to do anything. And I have more meals made out of prepared things, but with more variation, like pizza with extra veg added on top, chips, and frozen nibbles or left-overs as a side dish.
3. How many people do you usually cook for, when you cook?
Usually me and Rachel. Usually with enough leftovers for a small lunch or a large dinner depending how much I make.
4. Do you have a favourite recipe book or chef?
Lots have been good to me but few I could pick out as the best. Jack Monroe is amazing for simple meals that are really good. It's just one recipe but Hilarita's Lemon Cake is maybe my favourite recipe :) And we've several staples inherited from parents or given as presents who give reliable recipes for a wide variety of things. Rose Elliot. Madhur Jaffrey. Etc.
5. Kitchen tools: use the fewest possible or gadgets are your friend?
I'm always cautious about giving up kitchen space, or investing time and effort in a gadget which doesn't really help, so I tend to be a bit slow about adopting gadgets, but the ones we have taken on have been outstandingly useful. The breadmaker is the recent giant winner, but there's a fewer other staples like rebuying a decent pan when we needed to that made a real difference.
Generally fairly pleased. I like cooking food I like, and I like it when I can make something other people appreciate, and I don't have to do it often enough it's too much of a chore.
I used to feel guilty that it was a grown-up thing I was supposed to be able to do but couldn't really. Now I feel like even if I can't cook properly I can make do well enough.
2. How often do you cook a meal (from mostly fresh ingredients, not something ready-assembled that you just heat)?
Between the two of us we probably cook a bit more than half the evenings. Somewhat more now we're at home full time during lockdown. Usually one of us takes charge of the meal and the other helps a little or a lot. The other evenings we reheat leftovers, or heat preprepared food, or are ones where we planned a takeaway, or have other plans and snack on something simple.
For lunch I usually don't have the brain to cook at all, it's almost always leftovers, preprepared, or someting simple.
My brain used to have a clear line for what counted as "cooking" as opposed to not cooking. Basically, boiling water, even just for pasta, felt like cooking. Oven chips and pizza didn't. But now it's fuzzier. I can cook pasta more on autopilot without feeling like I have to do anything. And I have more meals made out of prepared things, but with more variation, like pizza with extra veg added on top, chips, and frozen nibbles or left-overs as a side dish.
3. How many people do you usually cook for, when you cook?
Usually me and Rachel. Usually with enough leftovers for a small lunch or a large dinner depending how much I make.
4. Do you have a favourite recipe book or chef?
Lots have been good to me but few I could pick out as the best. Jack Monroe is amazing for simple meals that are really good. It's just one recipe but Hilarita's Lemon Cake is maybe my favourite recipe :) And we've several staples inherited from parents or given as presents who give reliable recipes for a wide variety of things. Rose Elliot. Madhur Jaffrey. Etc.
5. Kitchen tools: use the fewest possible or gadgets are your friend?
I'm always cautious about giving up kitchen space, or investing time and effort in a gadget which doesn't really help, so I tend to be a bit slow about adopting gadgets, but the ones we have taken on have been outstandingly useful. The breadmaker is the recent giant winner, but there's a fewer other staples like rebuying a decent pan when we needed to that made a real difference.