Boiling water

[hildy89]

You know the jokes about people who can't even boil water?

*sheepishly raises her hand*

I'm embarrassed to admit that I would be one of those people. I can use a microwave and toaster oven, although maybe not for others. I just never learned or I made do with prepared foods.

So I delved into unknown territory yesterday when I tried to cook pasta. I was so utterly clueless about measurements for how much water per pasta. Cooking for one versus cooking for four is a big difference. I was so used to thinking of thinking in terms of preheating temperatures on the toaster oven that I stared at the knob for the burner.

After two attempts with flat noodles and penne, I think I can call my first cooking attempts a success. Mostly. Cooking has the fuzziest math on earth with a pinch of this and a little of that. I'll figure it out. I won't be kicking Emeril out anytime soon.

Comments

[ariadnesthread.livejournal.com]

You might benefit from a pretty cool cookbook called "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!" It's kind of a Dummies' Guide to cooking for yourself. The sequel, which I have but haven't used, is called "Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room!" That one is about entertaining without killing yourself. A then-young guy wrote both (I think his mom is coauthor on at least the second one).

Chronicle Books published "Basic Cooking," which has a safety-orange colored cover. It looks good.

Also, it would be hard to go wrong with Alton Brown's book "Food + Heat + Cooking." He's the guy from Food Network's "Good Eats," and he's a trip (as well as a good teacher).

Cooking is fun. Try it--you might like it. The only drag is that doing lots of work and then eating alone can be a bit of a letdown. Bonus, though--leftovers mean not cooking every day. The freezer is your friend.