Just Peachy

If you have FoodTV, Rachael Ray does not need further introduction.  If you have regular TV, she’s the girl zooming around in the new Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.  She also has a regular morning show that is on another channel (which I can’t recall at the moment).

She’s a great cook and she projects a "nice person" aura.  I am a nice person (or presumed-to-be nice person, as long as you don’t p*ss me off), but I don’t know how to cook.  See the parallelism here?

A few months ago, I tried to grill burgers and nearly set the house on fire.  I’m pretty sure my roommates nearly had a heart attack.  Two days later, the house still smelled of smoke (from the burgers), even with the windows left open.  Sigh.

Fortunately, EDC-General Dentistry is the perfect venue for people who has no culinary skills to speak of (like me) to learn how to cook.  Thanks to the numerous parties, potluck lunches, and picnics that we hold several times a year, we poor residents who don’t know how to cook (I think it is a General Dentistry admission requirement of female international residents for the year that I applied — 2. Must not know how to cook, which was right below 1. Must hold a DDS/DDM/DMD degree or equivalent – because Foni, Xiomara and I all fulfill those two requirements so very nicely) eventually have to learn to make food — a dish to pass — or raid Wegman’s for lack something to bring.  After the first few potluck lunches, we’ve all brought in everything Wegman’s can offer, and we’re running out.

The first dish I tried to make was Apple Crisp, which was really fairly simple.  No one complained of food poisoning or was rushed to SMH-Emergency.  And people ate it, so it must be okay.

I went one better the next time, bringing in Lemon Cheesecake for a baby shower.  It was a little too sweet for me, but people actually said it tasted good.  Munira even asked for the recipe.  I nearly passed out from shock.  Munira is now one of my new favorite friends for that reason.   

Buoyed up by the apparent success of the last two desserts, I brought another dessert for the latest lunch: Cinnamon Crumb Cake.  One of the faculty was eating the last of it when I went to retrieve the baking dish it came on, so I’m chalking that up as a success as well.

Now, for the savory part of the menu:  I saw a recipe for Stuffed Shells and tried it.  The result was beautiful — and plenty.  I had so much leftover that I was eating it for lunch and dinner for two days, and I still have half of it left.  Archana (also my new favorite friend, for obvious reasons) tried it and said it was good.  I don’t know — I ate too much of it already, so I guess my tastebuds are a little biased now.  Biased against it.  It looks like I won’t be making Stuffed Shells for a long, long time. 

Toochie was nice enough to show me how to make chicken adobo. It tasted great so I wanted to try making it myself.  Recalling everything from memory, I tried to copy the dish.  It tasted okay, but a little salty.  Toochie told me that "Hahahaha!  You forgot to put a little vinegar!"  I didn’t even know adobo needs vinegar.  So I added some vinegar to repair my adobo, and it tasted okay.  Good, actually.  Toochie says I should let my classmates try the food so we have impartial judges.

Someone showed me how to make Shepherd’s Pie several years ago.  I tried to make it myself recently, and it was okay.  I forgot to put salt on the mashed potatoes, but it picked up the meat’s flavor so it was all okay in the end.  Again, Archana liked it.  Two points for Archana!

Next up:  Chinese Fried Rice, courtesy of Dr. Ning (Please, please, please God, don’t let me poison anybody). 

–

I’ve added more ads to my videos:  M&M’s Dark Chocolate, Mitsubishi Eclipse, and Petsmart. 

~ by celle-baby on July 21, 2007.