One of these things is not like the other

[pbray]

Dinner 1:

1) Boil water & cook pasta
2) Microwave leftover peas to warm them up
3) Microwave pasta sauce (jar)
4) Drain pasta, dump in bowl. Cover in peas. Cover pasta&peas with sauce.
5) Eat


Dinner 2:

Cooked some bow tie pasta. Melted some butter. Sauteed fresh garlic. Dumped in some flour. Made a "roux". Added milk. Stirred every now and then. Thawed some spinach and mixed pepper strips. (Very colorful) Mixed with pasta. Dumped in casserole dish. Poured cream sauce on top. Dotted with parmesan cheese. Baked, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Then eat. Mmmmmmmm. Easy, colorful, (I like the red, yellow and green stuff!) and super delicious.

Those who know me will be able to guess that dinner #1 was the one prepared at my house. Dinner #2 was the one my sister made for herself and then e-mailed me about.

If we lived closer, I'd be eating at her place :-)

Comments

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

*shakes head* Dude, you cook like a college kid.;-)

OK, the next part of the Does She Eat Like A College Kid Test is if you stood at the kitchen sink and ate your dinner out of the pan.

And just to play fair, Yes, I've done that and it was within the last year.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hey, up until two years ago I was still eating microwave dinners, so this counts as progress.

And while I wasn't standing over sink, in general I see nothing wrong with eating out of dish/pot used for cooking.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

You're right you have made progress from the days of the Nuke-rowave dinners (I've been hanging around your LJ for a few years now). *cheers*

Those nuked dinners (I had mine at lunch) used to have some of the most rubbery veggies evar (except where they scorched during the nuking process). Ah, the bad old days. ;-)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's funny--my dad learned to cook when in his 50s and loved it, my sister and brother both love cooking, but it completely skipped over me. I'm just as happy to make a few simple meals and not branch out.

[vcmorris.livejournal.com]

Having learned to cook from my father and grandmother, I say, what difference does it make how simple or complex a dish is to make?

Dinner #1:

1) Cook and drain pasta of your choice.
2) Prepare fresh, canned or frozen vegetables of your choice in a separate dish and set aside.
3) Heat pasta sauce, canned or home-made, whichever you prefer.
4) Transfer pasta into a large bowl, combine with vegetable and sauce.
5) Blend together lightly and enjoy.

See... it's all in how you present it! My father always made his own pasta sauce based on the recipe his mother got from her Italian mother-in-law. My other grandmother, always bought her sauce in a jar. Which did I prefer? The jarred kind. Just because something is more "home-made" and takes longer does not always make it taste better.

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

Dinner #1 sounds like something I would make while dinner #2 sounds like one I would *want* to make but wouldn't. Dinner #2 also sounds like something that was on "Everyday Italian" with Giada Diilaurentis yesterday.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

She's one of those people who watch cooking shows and absorb ideas, while I watch cooking shows and think "Hmm, I'll bet they wouldn't be half so excited about cooking if they had to clean up their own messes."

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

When I usually watch cooking shows I think about how unhealthy the food is and/or how unlikely it is I'm actually going to prepare it. I love to eat, and I like baking, but cooking is one of those things I'm not willing to spend the time to get better at. I'm willing to pay for good food in a restaurant; I'm not willing to pay the money or the time to buy ingredients and screw it up at home. Plus, Ken and I find different things appetizing, so he wouldn't eat what I wanted and vice versa.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I think I fall midway between you and your sister. Sometimes I go to the trouble and chop and dice things. Other times, hell with it.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Especially after a trying day at work, I'm all about the "quick & easy" method.

My sister also raves about dinners she makes in a slower cooker (aka crockpot) that cook while she's at work, but my personal paranoia settings won't allow me to have a heat-generating small appliance plugged in while I'm not home. (Coffee maker, toaster, etc, are all unplugged after each use.) Though if I ever do make the switch to working at home, I might give one of these a try.