I’ve come a long way since soup!

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:

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!