I Could Not Cook Without These Three Books

thatkidsblack(71)

Published in

Reflections

Words

619

Reading

3 min

Listen

Play

Before these books, I only fried eggs and ate cereal..png

I Read 3 Books By This 1 Author To Learn How To Cook

I also watched Ina Garten's TV show: Barefoot Contessa. I told you about working out with my Fitbit. I complained about how much time I spent on my iPhone. Here's one (3) book(s) I am happy to share that I own.

My ability to cook the meager amount that I am able comes from:

Modern Comfort Food
Family Style
At Home

all titles by Ina Garten. You might wonder, why are you obsessed with the woman, Kyle? She's just a TV chef.

You might be right about her occupation, but the woman has one vocation in this life: to serve good food. Judging by her long history at it, she spends her time well. I can't deny that while she was meant to teach uninformed people like me, I took the inspiration to buy her cookbooks from the best-selling book section in a newspaper.

Reading might just turn my life around yet. I'm still not a millionaire business owner, but I can still feed myself. Here's hoping I can learn to trade the way I learned to cook: following the recipe.

^{Shrimp to go with linguine as a part of Scampi, recipe by Ina Garten}

Cooking As A Service: Restaurants

I also write at length about how food is expensive especially when you're broke and unemployed. Add on the fact that you pay a premium for the "convenience" of a meal prepared for you and 'eating out' isn't filling as you'd hoped.

Of course, if you're working a steady job or practiced even a shred of self-restraint, you might find enough in your accounts to afford dining experiences on occasion. For those of you like me, reading literature about how to prepare your meals might be the only solution.

I certainly do not have the luxury to pay someone to make me food; I get right in the kitchen myself. It costs much less.

Self-Reliance

There's a bit of independence when you are able to cook for yourself. I grew up in a Caribbean culture; mother makes a lot of your meals. You don't eat out. "We have McDonald's at home." You quickly realize McDonald's means something else entirely to Haitian parents.

There's very little hamburger or fried chicken. In fact, there's much more rice, beans and plantains than anything else.

The opportunity to cook for yourself offers the freedom to enjoy meals you want. Leftovers are a joy to reheat not something 'we have to get rid of'. As I am in a serious relationship as well, there's nothing quite like serving your partner. Still, without anyone else to serve but yourself, the completion of a tasty dish feels better than spending even more on someone to mess up your burrito bowl.

Cooking for yourself feeds good habits food for thought..png

Health

In addition to the personal satisfaction, cooking offers a physical one instead. I might be a shallow man with crass tastes. I will admit; I cannot deny the beauty of a fine figure. I am learning I need a fair bit of strength training to trim the fat remaining on my body. No amount of running will cut the remainder unless combined with the building that comes from lifting weights.

In order to build that muscle from the weightlifting, I require protein. In fact, while I appreciate Ina very much for her on-screen brightness and wealth of knowledge, I really want to learn recipes from the American Medical Association cookbook. The food science locked within could make me a monster.