Why I Cook

Why do I cook? Michael Ruhlman, chef and food writer, posted his answers to this question and posed the same question to his readers. Here are my answers:

1. I love to eat...not just complex or seemingly exotic dishes, but I find even the simplest tastes and textures bring me immense comfort and pleasure.

2. I want to control what's in my food. I want to know what I'm putting in my body and I don't want it to be junk. It may be calorie and/or cholesterol laden, but it won't be junk. That's not so say that I don't occasionally use a boxed cake or pudding mix or can of soup or the like, but I get to choose what I use.

3. If I didn't, Tom would eat almost nothing but sandwiches.

4. I cook because I always have. I started cooking as a young teen and the oldest of five girls. Both of my parents worked outside the home and my family was a hungry bunch. I started preparing the dinner meal while my mom was at work, then later for myself, then for my husband and sons.

5. I cook for the challenge and creativity. Little is more exciting to me than to order a dish at a restaurant and then try to duplicate at home...and maybe even make it better.

6. I cook because it is a way to give of myself and to share myself with others. It was also another way to connect with my sons when they were growing up and I was teaching them how to find their way around the kitchen. They are both excellent cooks and I feel like I have given them a part of me that will remain with them forever.

So, what is on the menu tonight? Well, I took a small tray of Marinated Ham and Swiss Buns from the freezer and I'll pop those in the oven while I turn about a pound of fresh asparagus into a hot pot of Cream of Asparagus Soup. Add a glass of cold white wine and I'm in heaven.

I'm already hungry.

Hanger-On: n. A person who remains in a place or attaches himself or herself to a group, another person, etc.

Or is it Hanger-On-er? Either way, I can't believe I have done this. Me...the former executive director of student fiscal affairs for a private college...a presumptuous, unabashed follower. Nothing creative is happening for me, so I shamelessly latched on to someone else's idea.

No, I'm not part of the Friday Friends group. I don't know Debbie personally, but I have been to Winnemuca, Nevada, for a street fair, I think sometime in 2002 before we moved from the Lake Tahoe area back to Arkansas. Sadly, I don't think that counts. Anyway, I have somewhat attached myself and given myself permission to participate in the What's Outside My Kitchen Window postings.

And, I am about to also answer her questions about hamburgers... that simple summer food on a bun, with potato salad or macaroni salad or french fries or onion rings. Aren't they incredibly versatile?

So, Wednesday, I will once again post What's Outside My Kitchen Window. I'm actually excited to do that because my yard is changing daily. I just love this time of year! But, for today...

What do you put on your hamburger? Mayo, mustard, ketchup (it's a McDonald's secret sauce thing from the early 60's), always request cheddar cheese, sliced onion, tomato and sometimes dill pickle slices. Lettuce is completely optional. Although, I did really like the Carls Jr. low carb burger with no bun and wrapped in lettuce. So maybe it's the bun that's optional.

Do you even eat hamburgers? Yes, but not very often. Maybe three or four times a year. It's not that I don't like them very much. In fact, it is the opposite. I absolutely love them if they are flavorful, hot and juicy!

Is there a special place from your youth....that made great hamburgers. Your "hang out" joint, if you will. The place that made the burgers of your dreams? When I started high school in northern California, my mom got a job as a clerk at Los Gatos Pharmacy, a small town, family owned pharmacy that not only dispensed drugs and other sundries, but also had an old fashioned lunch counter. They made the very best hamburger I've ever eaten in my life. The ground beef was fresh and the patties were hand made, as was the "sauce" they used. You could have your burger with french fries or salad with a homemade roquefort cheese dressing, which I have tried repeatedly to duplicate with little success. I used to love when my mom had to work Saturday mornings and she would take us to the pharmacy where we would have lunch and then explore the sidewalks outside until it was time to go home. I've never tasted a better burger since, but I'll keep trying.

Foodie Fives

I got this in an email from a visitor and I thought it would be fun. If you complete this meme, let me know. I would love to read other posts.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1. Whole, unsalted almonds
2. Baked corn chips and simple guacamole (avocados, salt, pepper and grated onion - that's all!)
3. Coffee is sometimes a snack for me. In the afternoon, I love a cup of orange coffee from Fresh Market
4. I have been known to eat a can of asparagus spears. Just open, drain, dump on a plate and eat.
5. A sweet, juicy navel orange

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:

1. Visit all of the best places to eat in New York City
2. Recreate a Shirley Valentine moment and have dinner and wine in Mykonos, Greece on Agios Ioannis beach at sunset.
3. Have a picnic dinner one summer evening at the Jazz In Park Festival in Carlsbad, CA.
4. Open a restaurant on a beach somewhere in Florida and have Mike and Chris each develop a dish to serve there.
5. Once a month on a Friday night, eat Buffalo shrimp, drink Mojitos and mingle with all of the tourists at Frenchy's on Clearwater Beach.

Five foods you love to cook/bake:

1. Sauteed mushrooms with caramelized shallots and truffle oil, appetizers, served with goat cheese and crostini
2. Cakes - any kind
3. Pork Osso Bucco ( a new recipe I created from a dish I ordered at McEwen's in Memphis)
4. Chicken scallopini (chicken with pancetta, artichokes and capers, with a lemon, wine and cream sauce). I copied the dish from Macaroni Grill.
5. Christmas cookies

Five foods you cannot/will not eat:

Okay, do I look like someone who doesn't like to eat something?? Well, how would you know because I refuse to post a photo of myself. You will have to trust me when I say, there are not a lot of things I refuse to eat. But, I do have my standards and so...

1. Raw oysters! Ewwwww!
2. Blow fish
3. Pig's feet
4. Hominy
5. Bugs of any kind.

Five favorite culinary toys:

1. A good knife
2. Non-stick frying pan
3. A microplane
4. Cuisinart food processor
5. KitchenAid mixer

Five dishes that would be on your "last meal" menu:

1. My son, Mike's, Buffalo wings with Chef Paul Prudomme's onion-y blue cheese dressing
2. Veal Romano from Henry's in Carlsbad
3. My son, Chris', shrimp ravioli with herbed cream sauce.
4. Tom's Creme Brulee
5. A bottle each of Marrietta's Angeli Cuvee and Moet- Chandon White Star Champagne

Five happy food memories:

1. Anytime I have been privileged to be served anything my sons have prepared.
2. Tasting Tom's Shrimp Marinati when it turned out just perfect, a recipe he created to copy the shrimp dish that we had nearly every weekend at Vinny's in Carlsbad.
3. Buying head-on, fresh-off-the-boat shrimp at a small fish market in Indian Rocks Beach, FL, going back to our camp trailer where Tom made New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp with it. We sat outside at a picnic table and ate dinner.
4. My Grandma Tobey's potato salad. There was nothing better.
5. Tom, Mike, Chris and me celebrating New Years Eve at Le Petit Pier in Tahoe Vista, CA