It must have been about 2 months ago that I first came out
to the world as a very inept food preparer.
My, how things have changed. I
certainly haven’t reached the status of Martha JEWart yet, but I’m on my
way!
I’ve been playing over the past couple of weeks with a few
simple dishes that I already know how to make (think pasta) but experimenting in
a way that lets me spread my culinary wings.
For example, I haven't been purchasing any expensive pre-made pasta sauces –
instead, I get the standard tomato base and I doctor it in a way that I think
would be tasty. I’ve played with water,
oil, spices and some veggies (like onions and mushrooms). Sometimes it’s a hit and sometimes it’s a miss….
The other day I spent literally like 35 minutes preparing this pasta dish, I
put lots of fun ingredients plus delicious cheese and I was super excited about
it. Fork to mouth to try it – NO
TASTE!!!! It was so disappointing! I didn’t understand how all those things
could be put together and for it to literally taste more tasteless than plain
pasta. Maybe it was some kind of weird combo
that many people know about but when mixed, the flavors all cancel each other
out – weird.
Anyway, I didn’t let that negative experience affect me and
I have since tried my hand at a number of other dishes – more successfully I might
add. Last week, I prepared an entire 3
dish dinner which was wildly successful.
I’ve kind of mastered my go-to dish of roasted vegetables. Here in Israel my fellow tasters have called
it antipasti. It’s yummy, healthy and
pretty simple. Additionally, I prepared
my first fish since I got here. My first
week in Israel I bought this frozen fish at the super market because it looks
pretty basic and the price was right. I
finally defrosted some of it and without following a recipe, I prepared
some. Yummy!!! I’m convinced that Teriyaki
sauce can make anything taste good. Additionally,
I made my second ever batch of Kinoa and I made it to perfection. It could not have been less not-burnt. It was cooked the exact amount of time and it
was perfectly moist and fluffy without being too overdone or wet. I threw in a few veggies and feta cheese,
dressed it with some olive oil and lemon juice, and VOILA! Another delicious
component to the meal. This is what my
plate looked like:
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Salivate away, my friends, salivate away.
Admittedly, I’ve been kind of a copy-cat with most of my
food preparations. But flattery is the
best compliment, is it not? Tehila and
her family have hosted me numerous times and I find the food to be
delicious. As such, I’ve phoned a number
of times to get some advice and ask how I should prepare things. This Shabbat, I wanted to lay low and so I
decided to stay in my apartment with one of my roommates – and the kicker is
that I prepared the food!
As preparation, I went to the supermarket early Friday
afternoon (hint to Rami Levi shoppers – it’s an awesome time to go! Super calm with plenty of available carts and
space to walk around as well as short lines!) and for the first time in my
life, I bought chicken. Actually, that’s
not true – a number of times while living in Teaneck, I had been sent to Glatt
Express with explicit instruction of which packet of empire chicken to pick
up. But this was different – I went to
the meat/chicken counter and I asked the guy for a kilo of sliced chicken breast. (Quick side note – I ordered in fully
understandable Hebrew, and hearing my accent, he answered me in English, yet I
continued to communicate in Hebrew despite his apparent need to talk back to me
in English…. How am I supposed to learn if people do that?!?! It’s a good thing
I work in an Ulpan!) Along with a bunch of other grocery items, I made my way
home to attempt food prep.
What was really my first time ever was cleaning and cooking
the chicken. It was a little scary but I
survived and actually made 3 different kinds - 2 types of baked chicken with
slices of onions, and a stir-fry with veggies.
Additionally, I made another parve Kinoa and a fresh salad
and sweet potato! I was literally in charge
of all aspects of the meals and I succeeded!
I succeeded at covering all the bases and I also succeeded at making the
food yummy! I don’t know if it is particularly
bragging, but I’m really proud of what I did!
This is a huge step in the right direction for me in my efforts towards becoming
a functioning human being, living on my own and being totally in charge of
myself. I said it before and I’ll say it
again – having these little successes is really empowering and it’s just gonna
push me to keep experimenting and seeing what other little walls I can break
down. You (I) go, girl!
