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When I was wee, our house had the same guideline that our house now has - the pastry is made by the youngest person available and capable. It's J at the moment, but A isn't far off being handed the job, and, me being the youngest, it was me until I left home. For some reason I now forget, I picked up the job of making the salad dressing, too. Maybe because I'm a super taster so I could get the balance just right? IDK. But the way it made everyone happy if I got it just right, that I remember. The glow of pride when my creation was admired, and the satisfying feeling of food that works.
When I was 15, the local technical college came to my school and we were encouraged to try one of their courses. I tried cooking, and we made crêpes suzette and some kind of flambeed beef, very impressive looking, exciting stuff. And I considered going to culinary college instead of sixth form. I already cooked family staples, but this world of nice ingredients and fast, beautiful food, was new to me.
Later on, I met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bjh21 and a ridiculous bet turned into years of obsession with dinner parties. I love that I can make something beautiful, learn new techniques, new combinations, make my friends dress up pretty and make them happy. I love the strict rules that attend, the arbitrary nature. It's like a particularly fine cooperative game in which we win if we're happy and slightly glowy by the end of the evening.
So, that's where I'm at. I love to try things that are slightly too difficult for me, or things that are comfortingly familiar. New things, old things, exciting things, anything that makes those around me happy. I find it difficult to cook for just me, often defaulting to cereal if I'm on my own.
As a parent and educator, my aim is that my children will be able to feed themselves when they leave home. Benedict has a small repertoire of recipes he's been adding to, and he can fend for himself if left alone. He makes his own lunch, but doesn't cook in the evening much at the moment. The littles are learning how food should feel as you make it, they help me when they can and that's increasing as they get older, and hopefully they will have their own recipe file by the time they leave home, based on what each child likes.
Eta: Last year, I wrote this on the subject (comment elsewhere): " I started basking in the compliments people paid my cooking at about 6 or 7, considered going to culinary school instead of university, decided that that wasn't going to be as much fun long term and I should stick to amateur, gave my first dinner party at 19, with multiple courses and pretty clothes, decided that was so much fun we should keep doing it, did so for the next 7 or 8 years, got married, moved into a smaller house and somehow stopped cooking anything more complicated than Thanksgiving/3 or 4 course romantic dinners, but still did those occasionally; in particular, the intervening years of ice cream practice really paid off, that was my best sorbet ever; and then as we started focussing on what sort of socialising I like, and as our house started to become presentable again, I remembered that I really miss being the sort of person who gives dinner parties and wanted to regain that."
When I was 15, the local technical college came to my school and we were encouraged to try one of their courses. I tried cooking, and we made crêpes suzette and some kind of flambeed beef, very impressive looking, exciting stuff. And I considered going to culinary college instead of sixth form. I already cooked family staples, but this world of nice ingredients and fast, beautiful food, was new to me.
Later on, I met
bjh21 and a ridiculous bet turned into years of obsession with dinner parties. I love that I can make something beautiful, learn new techniques, new combinations, make my friends dress up pretty and make them happy. I love the strict rules that attend, the arbitrary nature. It's like a particularly fine cooperative game in which we win if we're happy and slightly glowy by the end of the evening.So, that's where I'm at. I love to try things that are slightly too difficult for me, or things that are comfortingly familiar. New things, old things, exciting things, anything that makes those around me happy. I find it difficult to cook for just me, often defaulting to cereal if I'm on my own.
As a parent and educator, my aim is that my children will be able to feed themselves when they leave home. Benedict has a small repertoire of recipes he's been adding to, and he can fend for himself if left alone. He makes his own lunch, but doesn't cook in the evening much at the moment. The littles are learning how food should feel as you make it, they help me when they can and that's increasing as they get older, and hopefully they will have their own recipe file by the time they leave home, based on what each child likes.
Eta: Last year, I wrote this on the subject (comment elsewhere): " I started basking in the compliments people paid my cooking at about 6 or 7, considered going to culinary school instead of university, decided that that wasn't going to be as much fun long term and I should stick to amateur, gave my first dinner party at 19, with multiple courses and pretty clothes, decided that was so much fun we should keep doing it, did so for the next 7 or 8 years, got married, moved into a smaller house and somehow stopped cooking anything more complicated than Thanksgiving/3 or 4 course romantic dinners, but still did those occasionally; in particular, the intervening years of ice cream practice really paid off, that was my best sorbet ever; and then as we started focussing on what sort of socialising I like, and as our house started to become presentable again, I remembered that I really miss being the sort of person who gives dinner parties and wanted to regain that."
