My first love
I can honestly say that Daniel is my first REAL love. And we all know that story. So instead I really want to blog about another first "love"... Cooking
I can't remember the moment I fell... but the relationship is definitely forever. My family loves to cook. Growing-up, my mom cooked dinner more than the average So Cal momma. Fast food was a rarity, dining out was limited to hole-in-the-wall or mom and pop shops... except for Sizzler. (Finally I understand why my mom would only let us talk her in to taking us there when Dad was our out of town. More than anything, I am thankful that I was brought up with a true appreciation for food. And not just "American" but all kinds of cuisines. Likewise, not just dining out, but cooking all kinds of cuisines. Food is so integrated in my upbringing that when I think back to my favorite holiday traditions or memories.. they're ALL about food. Italian on Valentine's Day, Tamales on Christmas Eve. My senior year of high school I decided that I wanted to have a graduation party. No streamers or cheesy "GRAD 2004" stuff... Instead I invited 12 of my closest friends over for a formal dinner party. Cocktail attire. The whole nine yards. I made tomato basil soup (I found the recipe from La Madeline... so much cream..) which I served in individual ramekins topped with puff pastry. Beef Wellington (also puff-pastry.. I was too inexperienced to see that this might have been overkill)... You get the picture. In high school, this was different... Now in my early 20s, my peers are finally on the same page. Almost. OK. Maybe it won't REALLY happen until my LATE 20s.
My mom (and my dad) taught be to be a pinch-of-this, handful-of-that kind of cook... I still whole-heartedly practice this method... the only downside... making it taste EXACTLY the same. So this brings me to why I decided to write about this LOVE not the Dan LOVE. I made Chili this morning in the crock pot we got for our wedding. How does it taste SO different than my Mom's? Maybe in 6-8 hours....
PS. Chili does not photograph well.. so I'm going to skip that part.
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