FOOD

Reading these brought to mind what I consider to be my first “real” cooking experience and the beginning of my obsession with good food. It was my senior year of college, as I recall, and I was living in my sorority house. Sunday nights we had to fend for ourselves which usually meant eating leftovers from the fridge, making some ramen noodles, or ordering out. My roommate, Amy, and I decided that we wanted to actually have a real meal and opted to make capellini pomodoro (a la The Olive Garden).

First, we gathered the ingredients: dry pasta noodles, fresh tomatoes and garlic, dried oregano, plus bread to make garlic bread along with a bottle of red wine that we smuggled into the house (very much against the rules!). Then we set out to recreate my favorite dish from the Italian chain. We cut and boiled, simmered and stirred, tasted and seasoned until we had everything just right. It was exhilarating to be the masters of the kitchen, cooking to our personal tastes.

When the two of us sat down in the formal dining room with our plates and raised our glasses of wine to toast ourselves, there was a sense of accomplishment and truly being an adult for me. The pasta was delicious, as I recall, but what I remember most vividly was the camaraderie of cooking and how it brought us closer together as friends. Food tastes infinitely better when made and enjoyed with those you love.

Thus, my love affair with food began. I suppose I love making food as much as I do consuming it. I have stacks of recipes that I pulled from the pages of my beloved (and now gone) Gourmet magazine. Some I have cooked over and over, others I have yet to try. I love trying new recipes, adjusting them to accommodate local, fresh ingredients to maximize flavor and color. What I enjoy most is making up my own concoctions: pan seared kielbasa with peppers and onions (simple but delicious); grilled squash and goat cheese sandwiches with carmelized onions,; colorful, tasty salads with homemade dressing; salmon fillets grilled with red onion and orange slices. Nothing fancy – just basic ingredients paired for maximum taste.

Unfortunately, I don’t cook nearly as often as I’d like. Being a working mother of two girls under the age of four makes things a bit more complicated so the crock pot is a very dear friend, particularly in the colder months. Chilis, roasts, and soups are staples as are roasted meats and vegetables that take minimal prep time. Every now and then, though, I get ambitious and take on something big and time-consuming like roasted butternut squash and apple soup with bleu cheese drizzle.

I find it funny, in retrospect, that the first “real” meal I made was inspired by the Olive Garden. I now generally eschew national chain restaurants in favor of local or regional restaurants, mostly because I think the food tastes better. I guess I am a bit of a food snob that way, but taste matters. New York spoiled me, or more accurately, opened my eyes to what food can and should be.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 11:41 am and is filed under Your story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.