I think that had things gone differently in my life, I might have ended up being a chef. I've discovered that I have a deep passion for cooking that I'm just now really starting to explore. When I was a kid, I always wanted to have a hand at making stuff but was always shooed off. Even for Cub Scout's, when I was trying to earn my cooking badge, my mom hovered over me and ended up shooing me off cuz' I was cracking egg shells in the eggs and just frustrating her I guess. So I feel as though had my passion been fully embraced at a young age, perhaps I might have become a chef... then again, probably not :-) Though it's more fun to exaggerate the potential of that happening as opposed to just down-playing it.
My real problem now is that my passion is at odds with my long-suffering condition of Layzius Maximus. I would rather do one of two things at the end of every work day as opposed to crafting a meal: make something dead simple and quick, perhaps a frozen pizza for example; or watch Lindsay make something which is also typically dead simple and quick - for we both suffer from the same condition.
I don't think it's mainly that we're lazy, rather that it's more the influence of a tiring day at the office. Plying one's trade all day creates a tired state of mind and body, and the attempt to shuffle off that heavy burden at the end of the work day can be quite difficult. The main issue is that as I'm learning more about food and healthy eating, and what goes into so much of our processed foods, as well as the condition of our typical meats(which are loaded full of garbage) and our veg(which usually comes from all over the world except our own backyard), I'm growing more and more uncomfortable with the future of our worlds average daily diet, as well as my own.
Now, I don't get as caught up with the whole mass-produced meats and veg issues, as there isn't much I can currently do about that. I realize I could start buying organic meats and veg, but a)they're far too costly for Linds and I as a permanent economic decision, and b)they're hard to come by, as well as being sparse in selection, unless you have an organics only store nearby. I would love to have a farmers market in Burlington, that would just be too cool.
My long term plan for the veg issue, is to eventually grow my own herb and vegetable garden. This is something that just tickles me with excitement every time I think about it. The only frustrating part is that our current backyard doesn't offer the space for the scope of garden I want to grow, so I likely won't realize my plan until we get our next house (which is still a seven-year-away plan). Depending on what we end up doing with the rear section of our backyard, I may at least grow a small herb garden with possibly one or two veg, but nothing near the scale of what I REALLY want to do. I think it's an exciting prospect to live off of the natural products of the different seasons as well. In todays market we can go grab strawberries when they're eight months out of season, which yeah, is convenient and also a little disturbing at the same time; however, I think it would be so cool to appreciate the different veg and fruits in their own seasons. Example, one month maybe one veg is in full swing, and the next it's another; well then each month you make dishes according to what you have. I dunno, it just more natural I think, and appreciates the product far more greatly.
Back to the cooking topic though, I'm finding that I REALLY enjoy making a complex dish. I have to be inspired to make it though, typically if I see something that looks and sounds amazing on a cooking show or in a detailed cookbook it will set me off and running. I recently made French onion soup from scratch! It's super easy, and amazingly tasty! It was a bit salty, but that's because I boiled off too much of the water in the stock, which left it VERY concentrated. You live you learn, but tonight I'm going to try and perfect risotto bianco. I've made it a few times, but messed it up last time by forgetting that I was halving the recipe for portions sake, and ended up tossing in WAY too much butter at the end. I've also learned many of the major cooking terms, like simmering. I had no idea what that really meant; I mean I had my assumptions, but just didn't know. Turns out the exact meaning is to bring to a temperature just below boiling, and that boiling something will have dramatically different effects from simmering it. The most exciting thing however, is that I've been learning how and when to use herbs in cooking; not your pre-packaged dried herb mixes, but the herbs themselves. I've even started using the fresh (or at least as fresh as I can get) herbs from my local supermarket, they have so much more flavour than the dried herbs. I used cumin seeds for the first time last Saturday as part of a dry rub for a pork tenderloin, marvelous flavour.
Anywho, that's all just another random thought to add to my many others. Cheers! :-)
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