Thursday 4 December 2008

Love

Shockingly this post has nothing to do with me falling in love with a girl. Tonight I'm going to blog about my love for food, more specifically, my love of making my own meal. I can't remember when was the first time I made a meal on my own, I was probably in my teen (or maybe younger) and the ingredients most likely involved eggs and some sort of ground up meat. It probably didn't taste too good but I probably didn't really care. Unlike some bachelors living on their own, I do enjoy cooking. In fact I love it. This particular love probably came from my mom since my dad isn't exactly the best cook out there. After a long day of work, I find cooking to be one of the best relaxation methods. On the way home from work I often think about what I have in the fridge and what kind of yummy goodies I can make that night. Since I live pretty close to the grocery store (~1.2 km) I often go there on a nightly basis just to pick up the necessary ingredients to make what I want. I find it quite rewarding eating something I make, not to mention I can save a bit of money too. Sure sometimes I get a bit lazy and just want to eat out, but that doesn't happen all that often (but in my roommate Mike's case..more like 6 out of 7 days. I swear 90% of the stuff in the fridge/freezer are mine). 

Some people might argue that it's very hard to cook a meal for one person. They might also argue that if you cook you'd have to make multiple portions of food, meaning you'd have to eat the same food for days. Therefore, they conclude, you should just give up on cooking and eat out. I used to agree to these statements but over the years I've figured out a thing or two. I can whip out a hearty meal in between 30 minutes to an hour. I usually make enough food such that it's good for 3-4 meals in total. I'd eat one portion and pack the rest for lunches or dinners. I'd typically cook again the next day and pack some more. Now I have 2 sets of food to rotate throughout the week. If I cook again for the 3rd time of the week, I'd have 3 sets of meals to rotate. In my opinion, it works like wonder. From time to time I'd splurge and make myself one fantastic meal that'd leave no leftovers. This usually means a steak dinner, a piece of grilled salmon, or some sort of yummy meat dish. And my elaborated cooking process usually involves both the stove and the oven, meaning cleaning can be a really pain in the ass. But I don't mind. To me cleaning up is a part of the enjoyment for making your own meal.

Tonight while driving home from work I remembered that I had some mushrooms in the fridge. I walked to Save-On-Foods, wandered around, and decided that I'd use the mushrooms and make some Swedish meatballs without following any recipes. I bought some extra lean ground beef, eggs, a green pepper, couple tomatoes, and some fresh parsley. About an hour later I was eating my own version of Swedish meatball pasta (or maybe I should call it Monkeyish meatball pasta?). Another successful experimental meal in the book. : )