This blog is absolutely hilarious!

Dorm room cooking at it’s finest

http://miniandmicro.blogspot.com/search/label/Dorm%20Cooking

Basic tools every beginner cook should have in their kitchen.

Starting out on your own is a tough enough task. The first place I suggest fully furnishing is the kitchen. My reason for that is simply because, through my experiences it is the place people naturally gravitate to. There’s something about the familiarity of the appliances and knowing that utensils and appliances are generally in the same places in every kitchen.

When I first moved away to school I was lucky to inherit a brand new set of dishes, cutlery and glasses from my parents basement, not everyone is lucky like I was.

In a later post I will discuss the best places to buy basic kitchen items but first I’m going to make a list of things one (well me) cannot live without in the kitchen.

1)a colander- it’s great for cleaning fruits and veggies. As well to drain the water out of pasta or whatever else needs to be drained.
- I realized today that it’s one thing I desperately need. It’s super handy trust me.
2) 2 pairs of tongs- one smaller one one bigger one- get good ones, yes they all last about the same but the good ones are sturdier and cause less aggravation

- I have neither these, nor a colander . I think I had both at one point but they got lost in one of my moves.

3) A full set of dishes, a setting for 4 people is the best- trust me thinking that hey if I only have 2 dishes I will be forced to wash them doesn’t work. You get lazy then you are forced to eat out of the pot/pan
– in the same vein get double that for cutlery, because that stuff tends to go missing.
- On top of my now diminishing dish set I bought a few deeper bowls at my local grocery store. They are great becaue they are perfect for cereal.

4) A big pot and a small pot with lids. I cannot stress the fact that you need things in different sizes more strongly.

5) A good mix of nice plastic and glass glasses – If you are like me you break at least one glass a week, I have since moved onto plastic and know I don’t have to worry about cutting myself on shards of glass that get missed upon clean up

6) A set of wooden spoons they are great and recommended for use with the non stick pots and pans because they don’t scratch

7) A good set of spatulas- they come in handy trust me, I personally recommend silicone ones because I tend to melt them, due to idle cooking/ lack of baking skills

8 ) Mugs – get a few giant ones for the days when you are home sick or need that huge cup of java to get you going in the morning. They can also double as soup bowls for raamen or instant when you are feeling lazy.

9) Tupawares- don’t waste money on the bargain bags with lots of little pieces. Get 1-2 Big ones 2-3 of each of the medium and smaller ones. The bargain bags also take up space and I know I default to using one of the more standard ones. I also recommend getting ones with really really good lids. Or else anticipate spilling

10) A salad bowl – another multipurpose item. I found one with a lid which makes leftover storage that much easier. No transferring containers.

11) A big ole knife I use mine for everything I never put it away. A smaller equally as handy knife for the times when the big bubba won’t cut it .

12) Measuring cups.- I have these great silicone ones, they came in a set, they fold into eachother meaning they take up less room in my drawer

13) a whisk – what’s there to say about it. It’s the most underrated tool in the kitchen

14) a good can opener- I’m left handed, so the dinky metal can openers and me can’t co-operate. I have this fantastic Starfrit one that I swear by

15) A grater- great for grating breakfast ingredients such as potatoes and cheese.

Wow so this list is longer then expected. I kept coming up with more things as I thought of the contents in my kitchen.

Am I missing anything, anything you think is a pointless tool?

Fast food a winner in the recession, really?

I saw this article today in Slate Magazine. I thought I would share it because it disappoints me that so many people have turned to fast food as the so called affordable option.

I challenge you to track how much you spend on takeout food in a week.
Compare it to your average weekly grocery bill.

There shouldn’t be any surprises there.

An intro to a single’s guide to eating healthy, well and affordably.

Holidays growing up were a big deal in my family. The excitement of who would be coming over and who was bringing what always meant that my mom would cook up a storm. Growing up I remember eating fairly simple food. The requisite meat and potatoes. The occasional box of macaroni and cheese…. Nothing overly extravagant. Sometimes my mom would go all out and make some of the most memorable dishes, but more often then not it was a healty balanced meal of some of the more simple dishes I already mentioned.

Being from a fairly close knit Jewish family always meant that my when the holidays rolled around  favourite dishes would be served. Things like brisket, kugel ,matzah balls, chopped herring, liver, kichel, geffilte fish,the list goes on and on. Over the years my mom taught me a good number of the recipies, and as my taste in food has changed, she has been accomodating enough to put up with my constant flirtation with being vegetarian or vegan depending on the week. Jewish food to me is comfort food, my heritage is that of Eastern Europe, hence the focus on that type of food in our holiday cooking. It isn’t food that one can eat on a regular basis, unless their stomaches are that of iron, or waistline incapable of expanding.

Taking cues from Jewish comfort food, I have adapted a simplistic approach to my cooking. I also take a huge chunk of my cooking cues from Michael Smith . His one motto is the best recipe is cooking without a recipe, I take that to heart when adapting what he makes to suit my dietary needs. The flirtation with vegetarianism and the fact that I don’t eat pork or shellfish means I have to be creative. Not only that but since most of his recipes are cooking for at least two people, having that much extra food sitting forgotten in my fridge is both a waste of food and money.

That’s when I go back to my days of cooking in the kitchen with my mom, she too cooks with a small idea of a recipe in her head. One major thing she always stressed was that despite there being an actual recipe the best way to cook is through feeling . Given the fact that she generally cooks (the holiday meals) for at least ten other people means that those delicacies I look forward to at specific times of the year are restricted to then, because it would be unrealistic of me to sit and make food that can only truly be prepared in bulk . The same goes for regular family meals, for four.

I’m just one person, those big family meals as great as they are would mean huge amounts of food going to waste in my tiny fridge in my tiny apartment.

I started cooking for myself when I first went away for school. I’m not a fan of packaged convenience food, such as canned soups or microwave dinners. I always found that my highly tuned taste buds (more like finicky with food choices, and the already mentioned dietary restrictions ) meant that I was limited. I also did the math and realized that sometimes as convenient as the food was, it wasn’t always the most affordable, and the food was often full of empty chemicals and calories. I quickly realized that I had to come up with a way to feed myself on a ramen noodle budget without actually eating ramen noodles. It’s been an interesting journey.

Here I am today, a number of years out of school, my budget marginally bigger, with a more adventurous palate. Thanks to the magic of mobile uploads I have been uploading various meals once they are assembled, I generally tweet them and never expected that people actually cared that I got such joy out of sharing what I just made.

As I mentioned my cooking style is a pinch of this, a pinch of that. I will try my best to give as close to realistic measurements as possible, but I say go for it don’t be afraid to experiment with simple comfort food. The kitchen isn’t a scary place when you have a few staple ingredients in the fridge or cupboard.

Welcome to Cooking for One, the single’s guide to eating well, healthy and affordably.