Mastering the Art of Not Cooking

My name is Sarah and I am a food addict.

I just saw "Julie and Julia" and was enthralled and captivated throughout the film.  I then just had to get a wedge of brie and a sourdough baguette.  Unfortunately, when I got to the store there was no brie...just a "triple cream" cheese (oh, too bad) and I had to get the baguette at Atlanta Bread Company.  Oh the trials and tribulations of a foodie living in Northwest Arkansas.

I only wish there were a vegetarian version of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  I guess   Deborah Madison's "Greens" cookbook might be a close equivilent but there is no way in hell I am going to take that much time to cook, unless I'm having dinner guests.  Her recipes are enticing and sound delicious but parchament paper is just too much. 


And that is the point of the film and food writers in general.  Too many people are not willing to spend the time it takes to make the creations Mrs. Child wrote about all those years ago even though each recipe may be a masterpiece.  There are so many shortcuts a cook can take these days but it seems that too many cooks think that spending more than fifteen minutes preparing a meal is too time consuming.

I am so lucky to know people who believe in cooking and using fresh ingredients in the preparation of their meals.  I, on the other hand, am the laziest of the lazies and will, more often than not, reach for an Amy's Kitchen frozen entree or get something to go from a favorite restaurant.  Salad greens in a bag?  You bet!  Grated cheese in a ziplock?  Hand it over!  Dressing in a bottle?  Pour it on!  I'm even at the point that a decent a bottle of wine  with a cork instead of a screw top is getting a bit bothersome.

That is why I love having people over for dinner.  I get to churn my creative juices and lose myself in the preparation of a meal that I hope others will enjoy.  I love shopping for and planning a menu, just like Julia Child.  I only wish that someday there will be another like her...someone who loves to create recipes for the sake of eating, not for monetary gain.
Hmmm, Mollie Katzen comes to mind...

Ms. Lazy has finished her Henri Hutin Triple Cream Belletoile cheese with sourdough baguette and martini and was planning on a salad but is too full for anything else, other than a brownie.  Not quite the meal I had envisioned after the movie.  Maybe I should have gone out to eat.

Growing a snout now.

Dining at Home

I thought I'd follow up on my last post and let you know how my Asian Fusion dinner was.

The Szechuan Guacamole was very good. The ingredients were very interesting (toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, chinese five spice, ginger and oriental chile paste) which made the dip spicy and tangy. I served it with rice chips, cauliflower and carrots. I really wanted to have daikon instead of carrots for an all white dipping theme but there was none to be had.

The Szechuan Noodle Salad was good. This was a cold soba noodle salad with a marinade of soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, ginger and a bit of that oriental chile paste. I was hoping for more of a kick with the chile paste so will definitely add more next time. I julienned a red bell pepper, yellow squash and snow peas which was a great combination and just the right amount of "crunch".

The Asian Fritatta was excellent. I stir fried onions, garlic, asparagus, julienned carrot, shitake mushrooms and mung bean sprouts and added soy sauce. This was placed in a baking dish and then 6 eggs were beaten and poured on top. I also made a sauce of water, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sherry and scallions which was thickened with corn starch. I had been hesitating about the sauce but was glad that I made it as it really added a nice touch.

For dessert I made a peach crumble. I got this from the Moosewood Dessert cookbook and the crumble had flour and cornmeal, sugar and butter. I used frozen peaches since they are so much cheaper. The dish was very good but I'll probably use less sugar next time. This was served with vanilla ice cream

After dinner we watched "Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock?", a documentary about a woman who purchased a painting at a thrift store and then spent the next 10 years trying to get it authenticated. This was a very interesting look at the art world.

So the evening was a success and we ate and drank too much but that's okay. The best thing is that I have lots of leftovers!!

Cooking Fool

I love to cook. I love to cook for other people. I love to make salads and casseroles and pasta dishes. I am not a fan of stir frying but will do so if push comes to shove. I really love baking. If you could see my kitchen you would say "how in the hell do you cook in this thing?". My house consists of an upstairs open space and a downstairs open space with a bathroom off the living room and a screened porch. Anyway, my kitchen has a refrigerator, a counter top convection oven, an electric burner that caterers use, a microwave and a toaster oven. I am the queen of single-burner cooking and often make four course meals for my friends with my eclectic collection of appliances.

I love to read. I love to read cookbooks. I have a large selection of vegetarian cookbooks but make only a few dishes from most of them so I have decided to create my own cookbook of favorites and dishes I'd like to try but I get so bogged down in reading the cookbook that I revert to those tried and true recipes. I'm trying to decide how I'd like to arrange the recipes and have decided, for now, that I'll group them by menus instead of by dish type. I just love those cookbooks that have menus. I don't know why since I rarely ever create an entire dinner around the menus.

Now I'll share my very first menu, which I'll be making this Saturday, from my new shiny white cookbook.

• Szechuan Guacamole (surrounded by daikon, cauliflower and rice crackers)
• Cold Szechuan Noodle Salad
• Asian Frittata (this is a baked dish rather than stove-top)
• Peach Crumble with vanilla ice cream

Hungry yet?