My name is Jo and I can sometimes channel a middle-aged soccer mom… without the kids, husband, or minivan.
In case I hadn’t mentioned this: I love to cook. I suck at the whole “making up dishes to go together” thing, but I love to be in the kitchen, starting with a bunch of ingredients, and coming out the other end with a masterpiece. Someday I want to be able to walk through a store and grab the necessary ingredients without having to painstakingly construct a list and triple-check it.
Pseudo thinks I’m amusing as hell. Pseudo is an accomplished cook. He can throw things into a dish and have it come out tasting like heaven. He likes to hang around the kitchen, laughing, and watch me throw things around and follow the recipe exactly (I’m super-anal about it if I’ve never made the dish before).
Pseudo is also a backseat chef. ”Are you sure you want to use those tomatoes?” ”Don’t chop it like that, you want to mince.” ”The recipe is wrong here, you want to do this instead.” Eventually I either threaten him into silence (gesturing with knives and a fierce expression can have that effect) or just give him the reins in exasperation. (He doesn’t mind, of course; he’s getting food out of it either way.)
Basically, we had a bbq for my roommate’s birthday this past weekend (in the rain). I decided to make her an ice cream cake. (I… don’t know why. It was suggested as a joke, and I took it on to prove that I could.)
The cake took a day overall to prepare. It’s actually a very basic recipe: bake a cake in 2 round tins, melt ice cream into a round cake tin and freeze them separately, then freeze it all together, and figure out something to throw on top. (Pictures may or may not be coming soon, depending on my roommate’s boyfriend.)
It was amazing, and to this day, one of the things I’ve been most proud of making “all by myself.” I also made some black-and-white chocolate chip cookies (which were the other hit of the party, btw) which are easy as…pie… (groan) to make. I followed this recipe, and believe me, people love them.
Anyway, as a grand finale, my favorite part is actually giving it away. (Hey, if I always ate what I make, I’d be the size of a house!) I love to show up to work with a big plate of some new invention. And hey, it helps them love me, too.
I’m okay with the concept of bribery. ;)
