I Like to Cook
I really love cooking, as does my fiancé. Every night we can be together (sadly only two nights a week, due to scheduling) we try to cook. Here are just a few things about how we like to cook.
I love trying to be multicultural. I've made Pirozhki (Russian), Miso Soup, Udon, Pot Stickers (Japanese), Spiced Pancakes (using a Norwegian recipe), and of course several SEVERAL nights of Italian and Mexican dishes.
My favorite thing to make would have to be a "quick and easy" Alfredo sauce. It's not really "authentic" because it uses cream cheese as a filler and thickener, but that’s exactly what my fiancé loves about it. I don’t make it very often (we’re both trying to cut back on sugar and fat), but he loves it whenever I do make it. The last time I made it, it was for a Linguine Shrimp Alfredo dish (it turned out great, but we had to constantly pick shrimp shells out of our mouths because I forgot to cut them off!)
My fiancé’s favorite dish to make is chili. Now, I hate chili the way my parents make it. There are always huge chunks of tomato in it, and it always smells off to me. But the way he makes it is wonderful. It’s so smooth, the way he knows I like it (I have issues when it comes to texture. I think it’s left over from my Asperger’s Syndrome), and he puts in everything I love and stews it until the beans and meat are juicy and tender. He also likes to make white chili from time to time, which I surprisingly love as well.
The most novel dish I’ve made would have to be… most recently, a meat pie. I didn’t really use a recipe at all. I just threw a bunch of stuff together into a store-bought pie crust and hoped for the best. It turned out a little sweet, I think due to the crust, but it was delicious. The Pirozhkis I made a year or two ago also stick out to me. They’re basically buns with a meat filling in the middle. I made my own dough, which was a little stressful because I couldn’t get it to rise. But it turned out decently. I also remember making tamales once, which were wonderfully spicy, but a pain to make.
Our favorite method of cooking would have to be my fiancé’s old slow cooker. It’s on the small side (we registered to get a larger one for our wedding), but it can do magic! Beans, pork tenderloin, chili… once we cooked a whole chicken in there with lemon and garlic, and it was amazing! We don’t really use it as much as we really should, but it’s still a wonderful device.
My weirdest habit when it comes to cooking is that I hate vegetables, normally, so I need to prepare them a certain way in order to tolerate them. I like the taste of onion, but unless I puree and caramelize them, I can’t use real onion in anything I make. The crunch of a piece of onion grosses me out. When using carrots and celery in a soup, I have to boil them to death (in the broth, of course. Need to keep the nutrients in the soup), so they fall apart when chewed. And I prefer canned green beans to fresh, though I may give fresh ones another go one of these days. I can only handle cabbage in a pot sticker, and I can stomach raw baby spinach in small doses (like on sandwiches), but that’s about it.
My fiancé is the opposite, at least when it comes to onions. That’s his weirdest thing: he LOVES onions. He’s one of those people who can eat whole, raw onions like they were apples. He can also eat lemons without sugar or salt too. One time, we were eating out, and I gave him the lemon wedge I got with my water. He then gave me a mischievous grin and ate the whole thing in one bite (nix the rind, obviously). He didn’t even flinch or pucker. It was like candy to him. He used to eat lemons and salt as a kid as one of his favorite snacks. He doesn’t do it so often now, since the acid hurts his teeth (not to mention his heartburn is starting to become a real thorn in his side).
Overall, cooking is an interest that really brings us together as a couple. We try new things, invent new recipes, watch cooking shows on YouTube, and really enjoy being in our tiny little kitchen. It’s probably my favorite part about seeing him.
I love trying to be multicultural. I've made Pirozhki (Russian), Miso Soup, Udon, Pot Stickers (Japanese), Spiced Pancakes (using a Norwegian recipe), and of course several SEVERAL nights of Italian and Mexican dishes.
My favorite thing to make would have to be a "quick and easy" Alfredo sauce. It's not really "authentic" because it uses cream cheese as a filler and thickener, but that’s exactly what my fiancé loves about it. I don’t make it very often (we’re both trying to cut back on sugar and fat), but he loves it whenever I do make it. The last time I made it, it was for a Linguine Shrimp Alfredo dish (it turned out great, but we had to constantly pick shrimp shells out of our mouths because I forgot to cut them off!)
My fiancé’s favorite dish to make is chili. Now, I hate chili the way my parents make it. There are always huge chunks of tomato in it, and it always smells off to me. But the way he makes it is wonderful. It’s so smooth, the way he knows I like it (I have issues when it comes to texture. I think it’s left over from my Asperger’s Syndrome), and he puts in everything I love and stews it until the beans and meat are juicy and tender. He also likes to make white chili from time to time, which I surprisingly love as well.
The most novel dish I’ve made would have to be… most recently, a meat pie. I didn’t really use a recipe at all. I just threw a bunch of stuff together into a store-bought pie crust and hoped for the best. It turned out a little sweet, I think due to the crust, but it was delicious. The Pirozhkis I made a year or two ago also stick out to me. They’re basically buns with a meat filling in the middle. I made my own dough, which was a little stressful because I couldn’t get it to rise. But it turned out decently. I also remember making tamales once, which were wonderfully spicy, but a pain to make.
Our favorite method of cooking would have to be my fiancé’s old slow cooker. It’s on the small side (we registered to get a larger one for our wedding), but it can do magic! Beans, pork tenderloin, chili… once we cooked a whole chicken in there with lemon and garlic, and it was amazing! We don’t really use it as much as we really should, but it’s still a wonderful device.
My weirdest habit when it comes to cooking is that I hate vegetables, normally, so I need to prepare them a certain way in order to tolerate them. I like the taste of onion, but unless I puree and caramelize them, I can’t use real onion in anything I make. The crunch of a piece of onion grosses me out. When using carrots and celery in a soup, I have to boil them to death (in the broth, of course. Need to keep the nutrients in the soup), so they fall apart when chewed. And I prefer canned green beans to fresh, though I may give fresh ones another go one of these days. I can only handle cabbage in a pot sticker, and I can stomach raw baby spinach in small doses (like on sandwiches), but that’s about it.
My fiancé is the opposite, at least when it comes to onions. That’s his weirdest thing: he LOVES onions. He’s one of those people who can eat whole, raw onions like they were apples. He can also eat lemons without sugar or salt too. One time, we were eating out, and I gave him the lemon wedge I got with my water. He then gave me a mischievous grin and ate the whole thing in one bite (nix the rind, obviously). He didn’t even flinch or pucker. It was like candy to him. He used to eat lemons and salt as a kid as one of his favorite snacks. He doesn’t do it so often now, since the acid hurts his teeth (not to mention his heartburn is starting to become a real thorn in his side).
Overall, cooking is an interest that really brings us together as a couple. We try new things, invent new recipes, watch cooking shows on YouTube, and really enjoy being in our tiny little kitchen. It’s probably my favorite part about seeing him.
