Nappa Salad...

Basic recipe:
  - 1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable?)
  - 1/2 cup sugar
  - 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  - Cole slaw (the bagged stuff)
  - 2 bags of the Oriental flavor Ramen noodles
  - 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  - 1/2 cup sunflower kernels
Mix all that stuff up in a plastic bowl (one with a lid) and then place in the refrigerator overnight. Put the sliced almonds and sunflower kernels in the toaster oven and toast til brown - make sure they don't burn, because it happens. When you're ready to serve, mix the almonds and sunflower kernels into the cole slaw mixture (this will give the salad a nice crunch).

Ok, everyone - hold onto your seats. I made Nappa Salad. From a recipe.

One of the things that's cool about cooking (so everyone says) is that you don't actually have to use a recipe. You can just throw things into a pot and go at it. That's one of the reasons I didn't do a baking blog. Can you imagine having to be that precise? No, thank you. I try to shy away from recipes, because I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. When something tells me two cups, I MUST have two cups. Not a little over, not a little under. Two cups exactly. If that means I have to do things over and over again, so be it. See why I don't like recipes?

Well, tonight was no different. Those measurements? They took awhile, but I finally got them. I'm standing on luck for that one. Now, notice above that it says to let it sit overnight. Yeah, not a chance. As this was a split decision in a grocery store, I did not have a chance to let it sit. My aunt informed me that was ok (I'll take her advice and hope for the best) - I just put it in the refrigerator and periodically shook the container to mix everything up. It turned out not so shabby if I do say so myself. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this after all....or maybe I just made something that consisted of dumping stuff in a bowl. It's one or the other.

Rate: 10
  - I'm a little bias, however. This is one of my favorite salads, and it's EXTREMELY hard to mess this up (even if you do have to use a recipe).

Pizza Pasta...

Basic recipe:
 - pasta (I used spaghetti, but I'm sure anything would do)
 - your choice red pasta sauce
 - pepperoni
 - pineapple (excellent on a pizza)
 - mozzarella (and a lot of it)
Boil water, and add spaghetti. After draining the cooked pasta, pour it in a separate oven safe container. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle mozzarella on top, and add a couple of pieces of pepperoni. Bake at 375 degrees for about 5-10 minutes.

I hate the grocery store. I feel like everyone judges me - they know I shouldn't be in there. Unfortunately I wasn't entirely prepared for this little experiment (I wasn't even sure if we had salt in my house...), so I had to venture out into the world of expensive milk and produce. Disturbing. If you find yourself in my situation, know that you're not alone. I wandered the aisles for a good half hour just trying to find pepperoni. I don't really have much to compare that to, but I'm guessing it's not good.

I decided to start small. Pasta was a safe choice, as that is one of the things I can maybe feel ok about. But I figured I needed SOMETHING else - plus, I wasn't feeling plain spaghetti. Brilliance struck in aisle 5. Pizza pasta. My cousin mentioned pizza, but please. There was no way - that includes chopping and browning meat and straightening dough and other things that I can't even think of. I do love pizza, though. Pepperoni is a staple snack food in my house (which makes it that much more disturbing that I spent that much time searching for it).

It turns out I have the curse of my mom. What probably would have taken a normal person with any kind of ability about 25 minutes tops, took me a good hour. I would like to point out that salt does not help water boil faster, and if it does boiling water is ridiculous. Just thought that needed to be said. The problem was I didn't judge the amount of pasta I originally cooked correctly. When I finally poured it into the dish, it didn't even cover the bottom of it, resulting in more boiling (I ended up having WAY too much, but oh well). After that, it was pretty smooth sailing. I was finally able to sit down with my pizza pasta at 9pm. At least that's an hour earlier than my mom could have done it.

Rate: 4
  - Next time I will probably use a different kind of spaghetti sauce, and maybe let it cook longer...

We shall see how this goes...

The idea behind this blog started one morning when I was driving to work listening to the Bert Show on Q100. The hosts were talking about gender roles - about how a lot of women in this generation don't know how to do basic chores around the house such as laundry, ironing, and cooking. This is totally something in which I can relate (the last time I ironed a shirt was for a movie set I was working on, and I burnt plastic on it).

I wasn't really raised in a traditional family. My mom worked 24/7 as a personal assistant, so dinner to her was whatever was fastest to grab on the way home. She always used to say that she would rather spend the time with my brother and me rather than cooking (if she ever tried to cook, it wouldn't be ready until around 10 or 11pm). That's what I grew up with. So even now, my brother and I can't cook...leading to an exorbitant amount of takeout.

When the Bert Show started talking about how a normal college age woman can't even cook a roast, it struck a little something in me. I decided that I would try to make it a point to cook on nights I wasn't working. Call it a resolution, if you may. But this is going to be funny, as I seriously have no idea what I'm doing. The extent of my cooking capabilities is taco salad. Maybe some spaghetti. I'm also very impatient when it comes to food, so this will also serve as a test to my patience.

Basically, this is cooking for those who don't cook. From a true expert.