Cooking gets expensive

I made BBQ burgers this week. It was the first time I made burger patties by myself. Its hard to make patties by hand when you have tiny hands. I loved the recipe and how I made it but I would change the sauce. It didn't really taste how I would have expected it. I need to play around with the recipe and try new spices to kinda bring it to life. Adding cayenne pepper, hot sauce and BBQ sauce should add it that extra "kick."

Another thing that I have noticed this week is that I am fresh out of ingredients. These aren't your once in awhile cooking ingredients. I am talking about sugar, eggs, chocolate chips, condensed milk, and other stuff that you need. I usually purchase things in bulk and when they are all gone I freak out. I tend to cook out of random so when I am out of ingredients I am so confused on what I can make with the ingredients that I do have. If I had the guts, I would put a pay pal on here so people could send me money for ingredients. I'm not that desperate tho so I don't think I am going to do that any time soon.

I enjoy cooking for others and expressing my talent to the people I care about. I made spaghetti with Giada De Laurentiis Tomato Basil sauce and french bread with butter. I was supposed to be eating dinner with my friend but she bailed on me. Yes, I am upset but things do happen. The thing that I hate more is wasting food. Everything is so expensive and its hard to waste food when you spend so much time in the kitchen. I mean, when your in a small kitchen its tight, so you wanna make everything taste good in the small space you have.

When I get my own house I want a huge kitchen. I am talking about two ovens, dishwasher, huge sink, two stove tops, cabinets, pantries, large counter space and storage space for all my cookware. I found some cookware at Target that I thought about purchasing. No, its not by Giada De Lauentiis but it is made out of aluminum and its non-stick. I think its just Targets generic brand for their cooking line but that does not mean its not bad. Its cheap too, $80 but I don't need much until I get married. I figure when I get married I will ask for more expensive cookware.

My Wish List.

My mother complains on how I am taking over her kitchen and wants to buy me my own stand cabinet to keep all my cooking stuff in. She doesn't even cook so I don't know why it matters. She also told me that I have inspired her to cook, this is a lie. She never cooks let a lone knows how. And the other thing is that she is on weightwatchers. She is so concerned about gaining weight, you can cook without gaining much weight. Just be very specific on what you make.

Ok... so I spent the whole night last night online planning out all the cooking essentials that I need throughout my lifetime. If I had a bucket full of money I would instantly buy everything right now. If the world was going to end today, I would want to spend the whole day cooking everything I have ever desired. So here is my complete list, I'm pretty sure I can find more things that I want and need. I found it all on the Bed, Bath and Beyond website and Barnes and Noble. I am pretty sure I can get some of this at Target or Sur La Table at the Gateway.

• cookware
• Giada's Panini maker
• strainer
• vegetable steamer basket
• box grater with storage
• kitchen scale
• food tray
• waffle maker
• griddle
• salt and pepper mill
• spice rack
• salad spinner
• food processor
• kitchen aid stand mixer
• kitchen aid hand mixer (I HATE hand mixers, for some reason they break or for some reason everything turns into a huge mess.)
• papertowel holder
• can opener
• rolling pin (I don't have a rolling pin, how sad is that?)
• meat thermometer
• laddle
• pastry blender
• electric knife sharpener
• 9" spring form pan (2x)
• wooden salad piece set
• Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
• Betty Crocker: Italian Cooking by Antonio Cecconi
• Betty Crocker's Indian Homemaking by Ragharan Lyeer
• Complete book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani

I also spent the night watching "Good Eats." It was the artichoke episode, I don't want another disaster like the last time. I learned that if you put a steamer basket inside the pot with the artichoke it won't brown. Who knew? I also need to and another bruschetta recipe, if anyone has a REALLY GOOD recipe please give it to me. haha

Cooking + Friends= Total BLISS!

I am so bad at posting, I just don't get it!! I made fudge and it was utterly amazing. Chocolate with butterscotch. I also bought Giada de Laurentiis vinaigrette and it tasted amazing! It was the Parmesan garlic vinaigrette. I melted butter in her butter warmer from her cooking line and I mixed it all together in spaghetti. I need to cook something from scratch soon, I'm getting cooking fever. It sucks cause I don't really eat all the food so I need someone to cook for. I also bought new mixing bowls!! I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and I bought a set of 3 stainless steel bowls for $10 all together. I feel so accomplished. I wanna use them but I have no idea of what to make.

I went to a birthday dinner for my friend Brittany, I loved hanging out with everyone but the place of where we went made me appreciate my cooking haha. I only had a salad and some chicken. I did not wanna get fat and chunky. I had a spare cookbook so I gave it to Brittany and I wrote her a letter of tips and some basic cooking stuff she needs to be a successful cook. She is moving soon and does not know how to cook. So we might have cooking lesson and I will teach her and another one of our friends Vanessa how to cook. It shall be splendid!! I will make sure that they will do the cooking and I will teach. I do tend to take over but I need to learn how to let people learn and not do it for them. haha. I want my own cooking show; I have officially decided! I thought about doing Indian food or doing a show for those in college. Just small easy stuff they can cook in their apartments or in their dorm kitchens. I could branch out and go to the sororities/fraternities too. We can have a grilling episode too!!! You can totally tell that I had planned this all out.

EPIC FAIL!

Absolute worst night of my life. It was one of those times of where I started second guessing myself. If the world was ending and a asteroid was heading toward the earth I would be more worried about my cooking than what was going on around me. I was trying to make artichoke with hollandaise sauce. With my first artichoke I attempted to make, it browned right when I tried to put it into the pot. From my understanding artichokes are not supposed to brown. I didn't understand what happened and then I figured out my dads dutch oven was leaking. All of a sudden hot water was all over the stove and all over me. I tried taking the artichoke out of the dutch oven with tongs but it didn't end up working that way.

Being so upset, I went to walmart again to get another artichoke, lemons and to find another dutch oven. I spent over an hour looking at my options. I ended up buying Paula Deen's 10 piece cook set. It seemed like a good idea because I hated my dads cook stuff cause its so old an I do want my own stuff. I had my eye on that set so it was a good time to buy it. After taking it all out of packaging I started cooking with it. While my dutch oven was attempting to boil water, I read the manual. Apparently I was supposed to remove all the package polish off of the copper before I started cooking. I had to dump out my boiling water and soak everything with baking soda to remove it for 20 minutes. Note that Paula Deen's set is porcelain, it takes a lot longer to cook things with and little did I know it didn't work on glass stoves.

I freaking took 1/2 hour to simmer water. I dumped like 5 tablespoons of salt in that pot and it still didn't work I was getting so mad cause I was getting hungry at 9 pm. I finally gave up and ended up dumping all the ingredients into the pot. I read that you are always supposed to pour the lemon juice in before you put in the artichoke. That way it doesn't brown, I did those instructions and it continued to brown. I do not understand what I did wrong. I think I need to read a lot more about artichokes. I texted my cooking friend Denise and she said browning artichokes seemed fine but for some reason I do not think that is right.

Now, lets talk about making my hollandaise sauce. I haven't separated egg yolks in so long, it was horrid. The last two I did were just fine but I kept on having to re-do the first one. I had a hard time separating for some reason. I was alternating the egg yolk in between the shells and it didn't really look like the first ones I did. So as I am cooking the sauce I kept on adding a bit more butter than ususal. Like I said before, you can NEVER have too much better. I looked good so I took it off the stove. My mom told me to cook it two minutes longer.

What do I do? I listen to my mom. She doesn't even cook and I listen to her, the sauce turned to shit. It was all flaky, gross, and well I just can't really describe how it turned out. I didn't really talk to my mom was I was packing up my cookware. What should I do now? Give up or find different recipes for all that I attempted to make tonight? I ended up returning Paula Deen's cookware to wal-mart. I loved her cookware, I think it would be fantastic to use but it just didn't work with my stove top. I wish I could be able to use it but I have a glass stove not a gas one. I took me forever to wait in line and to return it. They ended up giving me cash back, I think I will go to target and get Giada De Laurentiis brand of cookware.

This whole night I feel like I wanted to throw everything around the kitchen, yell, scream and cry on the fucking floor. Yeah I would act like a 5 year old but I did not vision making a 1 hour dinner turn into a whole night type of thing. I just want to cook, be happy and have good quality cookware to go with it. My dad has stainless steel appliances but I might want aluminium but everything must be nonstick base. My ideal cook set is by Giada De Laurentiis but its her 12 piece set that is $200. I don't got that much, anyone wanna give me suggestions? I don't want something way expensive but then again I don't want anything cheap either. I want something that is durable but not too heavy. I'm little so I don't wanna feel like I am lifting a bowling ball to cook. Overall, at the end of the day I am in a horrid mood, tired and did not eat a thing. This fucking sucks.

Bon Appetit!

-Maitreyee Brandon

Its all about your mother this weekend!

I totally failed on updating yesterday, my bad. I did so much cooking its hard for me to remember what all I did. My dad had his tooth worked on so I made him an omelet as a soft food. For dinner I made Ravioli with Balsamic Brown Butter. I can officially cross that off the list of the things I would like to make. It was very different but wonderful, it was a hit. I had French bread with melted butter on the side to make it even better. I need to tell you my adventure of finding my balsamic vinegar. It took me about 20 minutes to find it, it was insane!!! I was at target and I grabbed an associate to help me. This was no regular associate, he was divine. Like very attractive and his smile was heaven. So we spent 20 minutes looking down isles trying to find vinegar. Can you say pure bliss?

Since my weekend is pretty busy with work, I fail as a daughter of being present during my mom's birthday. I feel so I went ahead and made my mom a b-day cake. If I had my choice I would make her a 3 layer cake. One layer for her birthday, mothers day and my parents anniversary. One layer for every event kind of thing. Since my mom is on a diet, she wanted like a one layer cake. I actually made her a chocolate chip crumb cake. It tasted good, you really could taste the lemon zest. I was shocked it would ask for that but it did give me an excuse to buy me the zester I've been wanting. I posted this photo on facebook a few people have been asking for the recipe. I don't mind sharing it, but I don't wanna type it out. haha this is how lazy I am. lol

Have you ever noticed that bacon shrinks every time that you cook it? I never really realized that till now. I have like some weird obsession with bacon. I swear, when I get pregnant my craving would most likely be bacon. How interesting is that? I also learned that olive oil helps pasta not stick to the bottom of the pan. You can also prevent this by not burning your pasta but if your one of those cooks who burns it anyway, use olive oil. Vegetable oil has no flavor so if your picky about flavor with your pasta, use vegetable oil. Another thing I learned from making omelets is that its hard folding your omelet over properly. I think I've had success with it only once in my life. I always kinda burn the bottom and it wont fold right. I need to get a bigger spatula, I've decided.

My mom has decided that I have been taking over her kitchen. She doesn't even cook so I don't know why she is flipping out. haha I have like 2 cupboards and one drawer to myself full of cooking stuff. Her idea was to buy a giant shelf/cupboard, wood thing and put it in the kitchen with all my cooking stuff. It will need to be huge for all my baking ingredients, utensils, cookbooks, pots/pans, just everything I have. I figure the bigger it is the better, but it can't be too tall. I am tired of literally "reaching" for my cooking stuff. I'm only 5 foot so I need to climb over everything. I need a rather large kitchen when I get married. Its decided. haha

Bon Appetit!

-Maitreyee Brandon

Giada De Laurentiis and EATING!

I have OFFICIALLY decided that Giada De Laurentiis is my favorite Italian chef. Can you say GORGEOUS?? She is like one of the best Italian chefs and she knows how to make classic American food. What more can you ask for? I went to target and looked at her cooking line of products, a bit pricey but I would not mind purchasing her Panini grill. I could find other uses for it, grills are very versatile. I could watch her cooking shows for hours and I actually want her italian cookbook. I need money so I can buy all this cooking stuff. I also thought about getting back into sewing but I figure I'll get a sewing machine when I get married. Cooking is my priority now haha! Here are all the recipes that I wanna make from Giada De Laurentiis collection:

• Shrimp, Asparagus and Pesto Fettuccine
• Ravioli with Balsamic Brown Butter
• Salmon baked in foil
• Lasagna Rolls
• Garlic Bread
• Pasta, Pancetta and Peas
• Chicken Parmesan
• Beef and Cheese Lasagna
• Fettuccine Alfredo
• Linguine with Shrimp and Lemon Oil

I went to wal-mart and found Paula Deen's appliance collection, I am going to get a ton of stuff from her too. I like how colorful and durable they are. I have done my research and looked at reviews. I also went to Bed,Bath and Beyond. They are the only store that had a long zester for a good price. Who knew about that? haha. I am proud to say that my smoothie making has been getting better. I know that smoothies are the easiest thing to make but not when your blender breaks when your trying to use it. Fudge is also a dessert that can be rough to make like peanut brittle or toffee but I managed to do it today. I used Paula Deen's recipe and I turned out to be total BLISS!! one of my co-workers wants me to bring it in to work. I just might do that. Everyone who is friends with me on facebook knows that I cook. I talk about cooking everyday but its another thing when they can taste it.

I normally cook for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't make one dish, I make 5-9 dishes and no one complains. Some people hate cooking but I absolutely love it. I made my first smoked ham this past Thanksgiving along with stuffing, deviled eggs, spinach/artichoke dip, veggie dip, french bread, two-layer cake. I was so impressed with myself, so was everyone else who ate everything. Then on Christmas I made a mini turkey, even though it wasn't a full one its a good start. I don't know why I don't go to culinary school but I figure if I impress those of whom I care about its all good. Well, to be a chef is very expensive and if I did something like that I would want to travel the world and try new foods. I mean, trying crab legs for the first time was exciting. It was so good!!!

Speaking of seafood, I really wanna make lobster. I have no one to help me eat it or no money to make it. I heard that lobsters are very expensive. I have a full list of everything that I have been meaning to cook before I die. Lobster and various salmon, shrimp, tuna, sushi and crab recipes are on that list. There are so many things that you can do with seafood its amazing! This also reminds me of breakfast. There are so many different things you can make for breakfast. I am getting so tired of making bacon, omelets and toast every morning. I finally went to the store and bought hash browns to go with it. I am also going to try and make pancakes too. I know that pancakes aren't necessarily healthy but neither is bacon.

Since I have started cooking again I have gained weight, I don't think I should cook like I do everyday. I should cook 3 times a week, I figure that once I get married that my husband and I are going to get fat. Oh I just figured out that "extra-virgin" oil is "olive oil." I feel really pathetic but I had no idea. Its also more healthier for you than "vegetable oil." Its like buying butter, there are so many different kinds you somewhat need to know what you are looking for.

No matter what, you can NEVER have too much butter. Especially in Hollandaise sauce, I learned that on the Foodnetwork channel. I also realized that I forgot how to "properly" chop an onion. I learned in High School but I had totally forgotten. I also cut my finger off tonight trying to prepare one for tomorrow. I need to go on youtube or hang out with one of my cooking friends. It can be a "how to" day. I realized I need to learn a ton more about cooking. Learning how to cook Indian food is a must. I was born there so I need to learn how to make it.

I guess you can say that I am literally obsessed with cooking. Am I obsessed with eating? No. There is a difference, I don't like eating a lot of my food after I make it. I think that most chefs feel that way, you put so much time in cooking something; you want others to enjoy. I find it wierd how people eat out of random, because they are bored or use it for comfort. I eat when I am hungry then when I am full I stop eating. I know that my mom always snacks and she is on weight watchers. I always get after her cause she is supposed to be dieting but I hate how people just snack on little foods. I have no idea but it just bothers me. If you are at a party and there are finger foods then that is fine. Just eat little and save enough room for main course and possibly dessert. That is just my two cents.

Bon Appetit!

-Maitreyee Brandon