Kitchen Karma

[snowangel]

It's been a really tough week in the kitchen. A quiche that was way more work that it should have been (which also included a near oven fire from some pie weights that went flying). A sausage-making expedition which turned out to be very intense, and although the sausages were mighty tasty, the texture was off. A roasted chicken dinner last night that was the antithesis of pretty.

Let's add to it the three cuts on various fingers. Oh! Let's not forget four burns. And that can that fell on my foot. I can't find my kitchen shears, and something under the sink leaked (been repaired). I've forgotten half of the stuff on my grocery lists. Even my trust Weber has needed surgery (part has been ordered).

I didn't even offer to cook dinner tonight, and left the family to themselves.

I am normally very competent and efficient in the kitchen. I'm afraid to touch anything sharp or hot. How do I get my "mojo" back?

[maggiethecat]

Oh poor Susan, what a rotten week. But take comfort in the fact that many of are deserted by the mojo from time to time -- a string of disappointing meals, injuries, equipmwnt failures. And along with health, career and financial woes, the Bard has it right: it's never a single spy, it's battalions.

I think you took the first step today: you said: to heck with it, go forage, folks. Take out your knitting, rent a few movies and give yourself a few days off. Breakfast for dinner for a few nights, or soup and a sandwich, maybe some Chinese carryout. Or announce that it's sandwich week -- BLTs, paninis, cubanos, grilled cheezers. Carrot sticks, simple salads for veg.

Go to the library and take out a cookbook in an area you're not too familiar with, which will be difficult for you, but say, English Cookery . Something plain, unexotic and spinglike -- simple country French. You'll get excited about something and by the time next weekend rolls around you'll be the Kitchen Ninja Princess you are.

And always, think about opening the Cabin!

[Jason Perlow]

Don't cook for a few days. First night, Chinese Food. Then Pizza. Then KFC. Then the local barbecue/rib joint. AFter a week of exhausting your local take-out and delivery options you'll want to cook again. Works for me every time.

Another thing you might want to do is fire up your Weber and grill stuff for several nights straight. Its very relaxing, and doesn't require nearly as much attention and prep slaving over the stove does. That's what I've been doing for the last few days, anyway.

See:

We Don't Need no Stinking Bottled Teriyaki Sauce

Roundeye Korean Barbecue

Nice Weather = WEBER

Edited May 1, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[maggiethecat]

Don't cook for a few days. First night, Chinese Food. Then Pizza. Then KFC. Then the local barbecue/rib joint. AFter a week of exhausting your local take-out and delivery options you'll want to cook again. Works for me every time.

Another thing you might want to do is fire up your Weber and grill stuff for several nights straight. Its very relaxing, and doesn't require nearly as much attention and prep slaving over the stove does. That's what I've been doing for the last few days, anyway.

See:

We Don't Need no Stinking Bottled Teriyaki Sauce

Roundeye Korean Barbecue

Nice Weather = WEBER

←

Expensive for a family of five, but Jason has it right. A few nights of r and r and eating takeout food and you'll be back in the kitchen PDQ.

[Lady T]

I fall back on the give-or-take twenty recipes that I. Can't. Screw. Up, the ones I can prepare (and have in fact prepared) in my sleep/dead drunk/on my back in bed with double pneumonia/in the middle of concert week with the laundry still undone. I do simple stuff -- and yes, I know: under normal circumstances, roast chicken *is* simple. This, however, is for when the Angel of Cuisine ain't looking out for you:

Quesadillas. Bowl of clean green seedless grapes. Wine of choice.

Potato/leek soup. Freshly baked bread, yours or the local bakery's. Salad. Wine of choice: I've been mainlining Oregon Pinot Noir with this menu.

Fish-of-the-week-on-sale, baked in white wine with butter and parsley. Serve with baked potatoes, steamed green veg (the asparagus is good at my local market this week), and champagne/cava/prosecco/sparkling wine of choice.

Chocolate is prescribed for all food-preparation-related distress, as we all know.

[snowangel]

And always, think about opening the Cabin!

So, I am taking advice. We forage, I embroider dish towels, and we head north this Friday (even pulling kids from school) for a premarture Cabin opening. Thinking perhaps we need food for the soul more than food for the bod.

[purplewiz]

Simple, simple, simple.

Omelets and tossed salad on the side. Tuna salad sandwiches and coleslaw (shredded cabbage from a bag). Chicken soup. Chili where almost everything comes from cans (tomatoes, beans). Stuff that doesn't have to be in the same zip code as perfect to taste good.

It's a matter of reminding myself in a very tangible form that I've just had a string of bad luck, it's not that I can't cook, it's just that crap happens, and sometimes it happens all at once.

And yes, restaurants and take out are useful tools in one's arsenal .

Marcia.