Three Kinds of Cooks

Dan informed me today that I'm not a real blogger unless I post every day and my mom says that I can't disappoint my loyal fans, so even though nothing interesting has happened to me since last night's post, I guess I have to write a new one.

Tonight, I made Roman Chicken using a Mario Batali recipe from Food Network. It was hands down the best recipe I've ever made. I don't claim to be very good in the kitchen (in fact, I claim the opposite), but this was incredible. Meagan asked our cube what we would choose if we could only eat one thing every day for the rest of our lives, and I think this might be a contender.

This is so good that I even ate the tomatoes. It is that serious.

I first tasted Roman Chicken when Cori made it for the Greek Week Cook-Off last fall. Of course, we used red and yellow bell peppers to represent Chi Omega's colors, and we called it Greek instead of Roman. It was absolutely delicious when we made it at 1918, so I decided to try it myself.

It's a really easy recipe to make, but it takes 45 minutes to simmer once all of the ingredients are in. I told Dan my plan for the evening, and he thought I was crazy. According to him, if it takes more than ten minutes to cook, then it isn't worth the effort. Of course, this is the kid who eats plain pasta (alphabet shaped) because sauce requires too much energy.

It seems to me that there are three different types of cooks in this world. There are people like Dan who would rather survive on toast and cereal than put the effort into making a decent meal. They might appreciate good quality food as much as anyone else, but they would never make it themselves. 

Then there are people like me who would prefer that someone else makes their food for them but are willing to make it themselves if they have to. I wont lie - I've had cereal for dinner twice this summer. And I always have peanut butter and jelly on hand just in case. But I don't see the point of wasting calories on something you don't love, so I always try to make something good. 

And then there are people like my mom who think that food tastes better when you do the work of making it. As if the food improves in quality as a reward for the energy invested in it. I wish I could be like this type of cook, but I honestly believe that every meal I make would be better if made by someone else. I would prefer Cori's Roman Chicken and Roz's roasted potatoes and Connor's pasta (he makes it from scratch so duh). I even prefer Buffum's queso to mine. You literally microwave the Velveeta and stir in the tomatoes and peppers! It is not rocket science, but Buffum does it better.

The only food I make better than anyone else is Ortega tacos. And does browning meat and adding a packet of seasoning really count as cooking? Maybe if Dan is deciding, but not according to anyone else.

So the point is this: I would prefer that all of my food be prepared for me by professionals. However, since this doesn't seem like a realistic expectation, I'm trying to become the type of person who likes cooking and likes what she cooks. Recipes like this Roman Chicken give me hope that I might be on the right track. I'm her twin in every other way, so maybe one day I'll be as good at cooking as my mother.