My First Meme!

Tara at Seven Spoons tagged me with my first meme. Yay! I squealed like a baby pig when I read her email. (Must you point out that I asked her to tag me? She wouldn't have done it if she didn't totally respect me and my writing. Watch who you're calling neurotic.)

I've decided to answer the first meme, originally from delicious days, first. Perhaps I'll do the other one later on.

What's your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
Hmmm. Was it the time I decided to make popcorn for an after school snack and dumped about a cup of Karo syrup in the pot, set it to high and then proceeded to watch my favorite soap till interrupted by a ferocious black cloud of smoke barreling in from the kitchen? Yes, I believe it was. Thankfully my mother just laughed when she got home, and then taught me how to make popcorn.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
Though I most often wax poetic about my mom's family, they really had more to do with my appreciation and enjoyment of food than my cooking. When it comes to cooking, hands down the gratitude goes to my best friend L. who cooked for us all through college, convinced me that I liked onions, tomatoes and mushrooms, showed me what garlic was and how to use it, and introduced me to risotto, homemade Caesar salad and salmon. I was her prep cook, often going behind her to chop or clear up the scraps and replace the butter in the fridge (sometimes before she finished with it. Oops!) She's a cooking goddess who still amazes me when she gets behind a stove, and whom I strive to impress with my bumbling attempts in the kitchen. She is always very gracious, even when I know she wants to spit out the horrible glob in her mouth. And I love her, even though she's still a vegetarian and I'm not.

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world?
Ha! Nice try. I bet my family wishes they had a photo of me eating butter, plain, as a kid. It was my favorite thing. I'd finish a pat, then ask for "more butter, please."

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
I'm easily scared by meat, largely because my grandmother believed in cooking meat until it was black, tough and nearly inedible, and my mother too believes that well-done is the way to go. I have an inherited fear of poisoning my guests with underdone, salmonella-riddled pork and the like. (Plus, I was a vegetarian for 11 years.) I've started conquering my fear, first with roasted chicken, then with beef daube, and it's getting better.

What are your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
The crummy old vegetable peeler my mom donated when I went off to college. It beats all those stupid overgrown Oxo tools to a pulp in the kitchen sandbox any day. Second place goes to my tongs, which are the best for doing anything. I echo the chefs on this one -- go get some.

Biggest disappointment?
My great grandmother always said champagne was the biggest disappointment of her life. I suppose she thought it would taste the way it looks -- light, sparkly, sweet, sexy. And it does, but not when you're 18. For me, the biggest food disappointment so far has been Restaurant Gary Danko. I know, it's sacriligious to say that and you've just fainted dead away. It's not that I didn't like it -- I did, I really did -- but I didn't fall in love with it and want to blow $500 there again the next night like I did at French Laundry, Manresa, or Masa's back when Ron Siegal was cooking. But I'm going to try it again one day, I promise. My great grandmother ended up liking champagne, after all.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else does.
When I was a kid I hated all normal sandwiches like PB&J, bologna, turkey, and cheese. Finally my mom struck upon two combinations that I loved and ate alternately every day during school: cheese and sweet pickle with mayonnaise, and cream cheese and jelly. I also love popcorn with milk, broccoli on my pizza, and ketchup on my Kraft Macaroni 'n Cheese (a little trick I picked up when I lived in Moscow).

What are the three edibles or dishes you simply don't want to live without?
Easy! French fries. Peanut butter. Macaroni and cheese. No explanation needed, methinks.

Any question you missed in this meme that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one! (These are the three that Tara added. I'm going along for the ride.)

Your favorite ice-cream.
First it was chocolate. Then it became pralines and cream. In college it was chocolate chip cookie dough, mint chocolate cookie, and chunky monkey. Now it's chocolate again.

You will definitely never eat...
Brains.

Your own signature dish...
To be honest, I'm not sure I have one. I'm a girl of simple tastes, and the things I've made the most over the years are probably tomato pie and my meatloaf (the Joy of Cooking recipe with a small tweak).

Now I'm tagging Tanvi at From the Pantry. I don't know how the tagging thing works or how many people to tag or if Tanvi will laugh a deep, throaty, evil laugh and refuse to do the meme, but we'll find out...

Comments

[tara]

I didn't tag anyone, so do not feel bad for asking! I am thrilled you decided to participate, and loved reading all your responses. Cream cheese and jelly used to be my favorite topping for bagels - fruit flavoured cream cheese just doesn't cut it.

I should clarify though, I didn't add those questions at the end ... they were added by others somewhere along the way and I included them in my post!

[tanvi]

haha! no i didnt laugh a deep throaty evil laugh, but i did giggle :-) im going to try to do my meme, soon hppefully!

[Mary]

Love this site!!! and put some of that pimento spread- mixed with low fat or non-fat yogurt on top of zucchini chopped and canned tomatoes- diced in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes- tasty!! if it get too juicy throw in some dried stuffing mix or just a little bit of rice to soak up the juices and flavors.