I come from a family of stellar cooks. As a classic under-achiever - a saboteur of achievement, if you will - I had been envious from afar of cooking talents that I neither thought I possessed, nor cultivated. Early mistakes were catastrophic and so frustrating that I was resigned to adequately familiarizing myself with a few signature dishes and either waiting for my mother's heavenly cooking or heading out to restaurants to pamper my palate.
But nothing tasted like home. As a child of parents from the South and North of India, I suppose I had well-rounded tastes but barely any know-how. So I'd watch cooking shows, search terms like "Indian food" on the internet, grocery shop while hungry and come home with fresh meats and veggies that I had either no idea what to do with, or no time to create the spectacular multi-course meals floating about in my head (I mentioned the saboteur bit, right?).
Not only did I barely do any cooking, but I threw away pounds of food that had rotted while I settled for beef Udon noodles from the corner restaurant. I was wasting so much money and really had a pathetically limited diet. Burgers when I went out, Chinese/Japanese food when I stayed in, with some occassional home-cooked meals that I expected to be perfect at the get-go. Meanwhile, my pantry was overstuffed with various non-perishable foods that I horded for that famine that was around the corner.
All that has now gotten old. I've gone with a new year's resolution that I think is manageable:
1) I'm going to use up all the goods in my pantry before I buy anything else. No more non-perishables until what I've horded is gone. I think this will help me to try cooking a variety of foods as I can't replace stuffs I use more regularly than others.
2) As for the perishables, of course, I'll be buying basic necessities regularly (milk, cereal, eggs), but I'll only buy what I'm planning on cooking within the next day or so.
I'm a month in and so far I'm on track. So.....why the blog?
Well, everyone's doing it! But seriously, hopefully this will keep me on my toes when it comes to the resolution. Posting the progress (or lack thereof) will perhaps make sure it's success more realistic.
I'm sure I'll be including my other loves - left-wing politics and TV/movies/the arts, but there's going to be a lot of food stuffs.
Not only did I barely do any cooking, but I threw away pounds of food that had rotted while I settled for beef Udon noodles from the corner restaurant. I was wasting so much money and really had a pathetically limited diet. Burgers when I went out, Chinese/Japanese food when I stayed in, with some occassional home-cooked meals that I expected to be perfect at the get-go. Meanwhile, my pantry was overstuffed with various non-perishable foods that I horded for that famine that was around the corner.
All that has now gotten old. I've gone with a new year's resolution that I think is manageable:
1) I'm going to use up all the goods in my pantry before I buy anything else. No more non-perishables until what I've horded is gone. I think this will help me to try cooking a variety of foods as I can't replace stuffs I use more regularly than others.
2) As for the perishables, of course, I'll be buying basic necessities regularly (milk, cereal, eggs), but I'll only buy what I'm planning on cooking within the next day or so.
I'm a month in and so far I'm on track. So.....why the blog?
Well, everyone's doing it! But seriously, hopefully this will keep me on my toes when it comes to the resolution. Posting the progress (or lack thereof) will perhaps make sure it's success more realistic.
I'm sure I'll be including my other loves - left-wing politics and TV/movies/the arts, but there's going to be a lot of food stuffs.
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