Friday, December 01, 2006

in my mind, in my mind

last night before rogray and i hit the hay he asked me what i was thinking about and it just so happened that i was thinking about what if there was a cooking class where they didn't teach you how to cook but rather would tell you to make something without a recipe and at the end of the class when you had finished cooking whatever it was (in my imaginary scenario it was eggplant parmesan) the teacher would come around and critique your work. sort of like a class in cooking instincts.

after a few moments of silence it seemed clear that i should explain how i got there:

first i started thinking about how early i have to wake up on saturday to catch my flight to go see my grandma so i should definitely pack tonight.

then i thought i should probably pack while rogray makes dinner.

then i thought about how yummy dinner is going to be tonight.

next i was thinking about how i wish i had better "knife skills" because i think that it would make me a better cook but also a more efficient one and then maybe i wouldn't get so lazy in the kitchen.

i started wishing i had better knives.

then i began thinking about taking a knife skills class.

which led me to wondering if i wanted to take an actual cooking class.

then i thought what if rogray and i took one together?

but then we would both know how to make the same things and that's not as fun as both knowing different things.

and a cooking class is expensive.

what if the class wasn't teaching skills or recipes but was about honing your cooking instincts?

no recipes. sort of like survivor in the kitchen. "here are ingredients and utensils. here is what the end result should be -- figure out how to get there."

but it could only be dishes people are fairly familiar with -- like eggplant parmesan.

what would i do if i had to make eggplant parm without a recipe?

and that's when rogray asked me what i was thinking about. . .

so there you have it. the inner workings of my mind. fascinating, right?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, how was the ceasar salad?

Oeno said...

Derive your instincts from your practice. That's why recipes are good-they make trial & error unnecessary, thus not wasting ingredients, and they provide the basis for improvisation. Throwing ingredients at someone and telling them to make a dish, hmmm-"Hi, Shana, here's some eggs, vanilla, some Grand Marnier: make a souffle."