Drinker Beware: redux

When  I posted imbibo caveo -  drinker beware  last year -  I wasn’t sure of the respnse.  However, it seems that information on how to cure a good hangover is one of the most searhed things on the interenet -  why?  Well, with the holiday season comes excess and with excess comes the requisite hanghover the next day.  But don’t take my word for it -  just today CNN and Newswek posted this same topic.  Read all about it here.

The Art of Creativity

I had a thought the other day.  I wanted to cook. I wanted food that rose off the plate and poked you in the eye.  I wanted food with sauce.  I wanted colour, and flavor depth. I wanted taste and shine and food that made you want to say “wow!”.  OK.

So what ware my options?  I can go out and spend a lot of money.  Get dolled up, take the wife and have a night out and feast on fine food and then balk at the bill and reluctantly pay it (more than likely over a couple of months) or I can do it myself.

So I chose the more difficult path.

I cooked.

Now, I like the food. I watch cooking shows sometimes and I have a good appreciation for the food that is created. But that is the problem, I was seeking creativity. I wanted to make something unique, not out of a book, but something that was mine.

I have decent writing skills.  I can create with words as easily as I can speak.  Word choice is not a problem and my grasp of polysyllabic words is not foreign to me.  However, creation of food is another matter.

So I thought for a minute.  If I can write, I can cook. It is almost the same thing.  I mean,  what words are to writing, ingredients are to cooking.  All I needed was a theme to get me going.

Thematic cookery, now that was novel.

So like a writer I looked for inspiration: in the cupboards.

Rice, pasta, pre-fab sauces, soups…ok, go for rice.

Into the freezer….pre fab foods, chicken, pork, ground beef, nothing.  So run to the store and buy fresh salmon, some thyme, peppers and lemons.

So what did I want?  Something tall.  Something aromatic, something, well, tasty.  So I went for a citrus ad thyme risotto, hard-seared salmon and Asian slaw. What could be so difficult about that?  Actually nothing. I found I had a knack for it.  If you have some grasp of some very basic techniques then anyone can do it.

So I made the food, and what did you know.  The salmon had a crisp skin, the risotto was a perfect al dente but at the same time, luxurious and creamy and the Asian slaw was zingy, a little spicy but a perfect balance.  So here is what you have to do to make something like this for your own (insert title of significant other here).

1.Learn to cut things evenly. – If everything is the same size, it cooks all at the same time and nothing is left raw.

2. Learn to make the perfect risotto – this is a great dish.  Once you can make one type, just change the flavouring ingredients.  This is not an every day dish or you will blow up like a balloon, but every once and a while, go ahead and splurge.

3.Take a risk or two – everybody has some reservations (sorry for the deliberate pun) about food, so take a risk.  Mix flavours (not all together, mind you, but some of them) and be adventurous.  Nothing is more attractive than an adventurous appetite.

4.Cook with love – I know that is corny, but if you like the food you are making, you’d be surprised how differently the food becomes. Love every ingredient, or just simply leave it out.

5.Leave dessert to the experts – a good baker or patisseur is worth more than hours of intense sweet making.

I’ll leave you with this little and simple definition, “companion”, in biblical terms is “one, with whom you break bread with.”, so go taste, eat, love and break bread.