A Butcher, a Baker???

December 29, 2011 at 9:07 am | Posted in Career Moves, Playing with Food | 2 Comments
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I hear it all the time.  If you like to prepare food, you are either a cook or a baker.  For some reason, there is a separation between the meal and the dessert that is prevalent in the cooking world.  Pastry chefs are different than “regular” chefs.  People who like to cook typically lean towards one side or the other.

I guess I’m an outcast in this respect.  I love to cook, but I do not lean towards dinner or dessert.  Instead, I lean towards recipes and techniques that I am familiar with, or that don’t seem too hard to learn, but I’m always experimenting…and watching the Food Network.

I’ve been a food fanatic since I was young, when several of my friends can recall spending days blending weird ingredients together with me.  I even remember making meatballs with my Girl Scout Troop once — I think it was the first time I had ever cut onions, and I have a vivid memory of it.

And I’m still learning a lot.  There are so many techniques I want to learn, and so many ingredients I have never worked with.  And there is only so much you can learn from the Food Network and cook books.

Part of what will help me is buying the right tools to make certain dishes.  This is where my wedding registry will play a huge role in making me a good homemaker.  But it’s more than that that I crave.  I want to be really good.  I am driven to get better for myself, not because I plan on ever becoming a professional chef, but because I am interested in preparing good food.

So looking into the New Year, I am thinking of taking my experiments a few
steps further and taking some classes. I’ve started to do some research and there are a lot of options for non-credit, affordable courses to learn techniques.  Once I find a good one that is cost-effective and fits into my schedule, I think I’ll give it a shot.

So plan on hearing from Chef Pushing Thirtyy in the New Year. More food adventures to come. Until then…peace out 2011!

Becoming Domesticated

May 4, 2010 at 9:14 am | Posted in Life and Living, Playing with Food | 2 Comments
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“What do you want for dinner tonight sweety?” “Honey, can you take the garbage out?”

Woah – when did I become a Stepford wife?  I don’t even live with my boyfriend (technically speaking) and these phrases (among others, some more disciplinary) come out of my mouth on a regular basis.  When did this happen?

I wasn’t a messy child growing up, but I sure as hell didn’t have OCD so in my adult life this has translated to a fairly clean, but not spotless apartment.  I wash dishes every day, cook, vacuum, sweep, mop, go food shopping, fold laundry, the works!  None of this is an accomplishment, but it is definitely a sign to me of growing up.

My family wasn’t super wealthy, but we had enough money to have a cleaning lady come to the house every week.  This was not uncommon where I grew up. But jeez, you really don’t realize how much work it is to keep house until you have to do it yourself.  The cleaning is not my favorite part, but I do love cooking.  I just bought the original Hungry Girl cookbook and was super excited about it.  When did buying a cookbook become exciting?  Who am I?

In college you start getting a taste of all of this responsibility, but you still have the dining halls (and Easy Mac) to lean on, and as long as your bed is not covered in clothes, who really cares if you clean your dorm room?  College life may be different than high school life, but it is still not real life.  Oh, how I miss the days where I’d come home and my room would miraculously be clean.  Those were the days.

But with great freedom comes great responsibility.  And with building your own life, your own family, your own future, come Martha Stewart tendencies and the Food Network… and hopefully a few vacations.

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