Sunday, January 24, 2010

Cooking can be fun! Who knew!?

Today is January 24th. JANUARY! And it is RAINING outside and 5 degrees!!! What is happening to this world. After spending 300 dollars on snow tires and 120 dollars on waterproof winterboots...I am a little ticked that there is barely any snow this winter. It makes me wonder more and more about global warming and what exactly is happening to our once beautiful green earth.

The weekend is over....it always seems to go by so fast! I had a rather pleasant weekend. Eric and I went to a cooking lesson last night for couples in Barrie. I bought him this as a present for Christmas. We arrived to the cooking school at 7pm (actually 7:05), Eric was late getting out the door which really angered me, but we got there and that's all that matters. Once we arrived we saw the other 11 couples waitig in a lovely dining room area and we were introduced to our chef/instructor for the evening. He was a cute old British man who reminded me of a typical chef you would see on a cooking show. He gave us each a menu with the courses we were to make for the evening. Everything looked so delicious...but also way over our heads! We NEVER cook, so this looked like a challenge!

We started with the dessert, a yummy tiramusu made with coffee dipped lady fingers and cream. Once the chef showed us how to do it, we all went to our own tables to make it ourselves. It was so simple yet so wonderful! It took all of 4 minutes to make! It was then taken away and put in the fridge for us to eat later.

The next instruction was on a delicious appetizer salad with mozarella cheese and tomatoes. Just watching him show us how to make it was making me hungry!!! He then showed us how to make mushroom risotto rice and three other entrees. We had a choice of which entree to make and us, like most of the couples, chose the chicken with sage and proscuito. It seemed hard at first, but with a little help we were soon grilling up the chicken on the stove and frying the asparagus in a pan of butter. We were actually doing it!! Amazing for first timers!!

Almost 3 hours later after all the slicing, dicing and flouring.....we were able to sit down to a delcious gourmet dinner with the other couples. I was extremely pleased with what we had made. At first I thought it would have been completely disastorous but it was actually awesome!! Who knew cooking could be so fun, simple and yummy!? Usually when I read recipes and see the huge list of ingredients, I get anxious, nervous and worried! Mostly because a) I don't know what half the ingredients are and b) It looks complex and time consuming. I realize now that cooking should be an enjoyable thing that takes practice and patience. I wish I didn't eat out so often, but I feel like society gives us no options...everywhere you go there is something quicker, faster and cheaper than making your own meals. Especially after work when you are tired and just want to go home and eat without worrying about boiling water, thawing the meat etc etc.

I think I am going to make more of a conscious effort to make my meals at home. It will be tough indeed, but I really want to try for my myself. For my health and my wallet! It will require some planning and organization...but I am good at that! Cooking can be for me and you! It can be for everyone :)

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