Learn to Cook

This year for Christmas, my aunt bought me "The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook." It's based on the PBS show. They treat cooking like science: they prepare each recipe over and over with slight variations to determine the absolute best, easiest way to make the most delicious recipes.

It is the perfect book for novice chefs like myself. Personally, I love ramen noodles. Chef Boyardee and Campbell's soup could hire me as a spokeswoman. My number one source of food is Schwann's. If you have not yet discovered the wonder of fully prepared frozen food that is delivered to your house, I pity you. But I figured since I don't have much else to do, I might as well hone my culinary skills while I have people to pay for my groceries.

I've made quite a few successful recipes from the book so far. Yesterday, I tried out 4 new ones. The main course was a Light Fettuccine Alfredo. It turned out really well, definitely surpassed my expectations. The hardest part was the insane amount of cheese I had to grate. On the side, I made Sauteed Plum Tomatoes and Broiled Asparagus with Soy-Ginger Sauce. Sounds fancy, eh? Way simple in reality. Truthfully, I only picked that asparagus recipe because I have the palate of an elementary schooler and it looked like it would cover up the icky veggie taste the best. Success.

For dessert, I made a Pineapple Kiwi Salad with Mint and Lime. The best part of the cookbook is the authors assume that you not only know absolutely nothing about cooking, you're borderline uncomfortable around food. There are pictures and step-by-step instructions for EVERYTHING. There were three pictures just on how to cut a pineapple. Two pictures on peeling kiwi. Did you know the best way is to trim the ends of the kiwi, then stick a spoon in there and slide it around? Try it, I was amazed. I would have liked to watch the footage of me, giddily peeling kiwi after kiwi. Maybe there's a restaurant that could use my very specific expertise in kiwi peeling...





Not like this knife-wielding jackass.