A cooking meme
I have been tagged for a cooking meme :) Good stuff. By the way, I am back in NYC.
The Cooking Meme
What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
The first real meal I made was Potatoes Anna (where you chop up potatoes and layer them in a cast-iron skillet with butter, salt and pepper. I'm sure I used margarine because it was in my mom's kitchen.) I rounded it out with blueberry muffins from Dunkin Donuts :) As a child, I liked to make crazy eights. You took those canned biscuits, rolled them so they were shaped like eights, dipped them in butter, then rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. They made an appearance at many family Christmas parties. And when I say family parties, I mean my mother's side of the family - an enormous gathering of 70 Irish people in a rented hall.
Who had the most influence on your cooking?
This is actually embarrassing. I had graduated college, was living at home and used to ask my mom, "What's for dinner?" One night she was like, "Why don't you make dinner?" This also coincidentally turned me into a vegetarian. I saw the bloody chicken in the produce section and couldn't bring myself to miss it. Coincidentally, chicken is the only meat I miss, and sometimes crave ;)
Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
Nope...sorry. I do have a photo somewhere of my niece digging out pieces of cantaloupe with a melon baller.
Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
It's funny, I just copied the recipe for chocolate meringues this morning. The recipe is at my mother's house. The first time I tried it, the batter would NOT peak. I was discouraged. Then my mom had me try it again. We realized that the beaters have to be totally, completely, clean for it to work.
What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
I love my food processor. I use it for pesto, curry sauce, you name it. I can't really think of any letdowns. I bought a little honey-dipper thing a long time ago, which was meant to help you get honey out of the jar, and the top snapped off.
Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like – and probably no one else!
This made me think of my sister-in-law, who loves ketchup on salad. I know, it's gross. I like pretty conventional things in this regard...I do love a sweet potato, tomato, and peanut soup that might turn some people off, but trust me, it's delicious.
What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?
Baked ziti, sweet potatoes and peanuts/peanut sauces (though I would never combine these three things ;)
Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!
What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Banana or pumpkin, at NYC's Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (which, belying the name, is tiny and cute).
Three quickies:
Your favorite ice-cream…Oh! I didn't look ahead. Banana or pumpkin :)
You will probably never eat…Veal. (I'm keeping Lora's answer here because I agree completely!)
Your own signature dish…Probably baked ziti.
Now I tag...Ms. Dork!
Happy memeing, everyone. Feel free to chip in.
The Cooking Meme
What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
The first real meal I made was Potatoes Anna (where you chop up potatoes and layer them in a cast-iron skillet with butter, salt and pepper. I'm sure I used margarine because it was in my mom's kitchen.) I rounded it out with blueberry muffins from Dunkin Donuts :) As a child, I liked to make crazy eights. You took those canned biscuits, rolled them so they were shaped like eights, dipped them in butter, then rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. They made an appearance at many family Christmas parties. And when I say family parties, I mean my mother's side of the family - an enormous gathering of 70 Irish people in a rented hall.
Who had the most influence on your cooking?
This is actually embarrassing. I had graduated college, was living at home and used to ask my mom, "What's for dinner?" One night she was like, "Why don't you make dinner?" This also coincidentally turned me into a vegetarian. I saw the bloody chicken in the produce section and couldn't bring myself to miss it. Coincidentally, chicken is the only meat I miss, and sometimes crave ;)
Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
Nope...sorry. I do have a photo somewhere of my niece digging out pieces of cantaloupe with a melon baller.
Mageiricophobia – do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
It's funny, I just copied the recipe for chocolate meringues this morning. The recipe is at my mother's house. The first time I tried it, the batter would NOT peak. I was discouraged. Then my mom had me try it again. We realized that the beaters have to be totally, completely, clean for it to work.
What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
I love my food processor. I use it for pesto, curry sauce, you name it. I can't really think of any letdowns. I bought a little honey-dipper thing a long time ago, which was meant to help you get honey out of the jar, and the top snapped off.
Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like – and probably no one else!
This made me think of my sister-in-law, who loves ketchup on salad. I know, it's gross. I like pretty conventional things in this regard...I do love a sweet potato, tomato, and peanut soup that might turn some people off, but trust me, it's delicious.
What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?
Baked ziti, sweet potatoes and peanuts/peanut sauces (though I would never combine these three things ;)
Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!
What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Banana or pumpkin, at NYC's Chinatown Ice Cream Factory (which, belying the name, is tiny and cute).
Three quickies:
Your favorite ice-cream…Oh! I didn't look ahead. Banana or pumpkin :)
You will probably never eat…Veal. (I'm keeping Lora's answer here because I agree completely!)
Your own signature dish…Probably baked ziti.
Now I tag...Ms. Dork!
Happy memeing, everyone. Feel free to chip in.
Comments
I enjoyed reading your answers.