When I was a lot younger, a fortune teller told me that the greatest event in my life will happen when I am 31. Of course, I am not a rational person, and I have believed the fortune teller for over a decade. While 31 still seems ages away now, it’s actually only four years. So, I need to get busy.
I must learn how to cook.
And more importantly, I must cook delicious food. Because I will be pissed off if at the age of 31 I construct an amazing feast and then realise that I’ve wasted my event.
I used to be quite good in the kitchen. I had a stable of regular dishes that worked beautifully. Then I met someone who spoiled me rotten and because he made great meals that were far more varied, I took up the mantle of food critic and abandoned the kitchen.
I think it’s time I learned about food and took more of an interest in what I eat. Ideally, I’d like to avoid fat-person food. Today is Boxing Day, and I’ve gorged to the point that I feel sick. No cheers for unhealthy food.
If I make one reasonably impressive meal a week, that should cut it. I was thinking of starting with chilli lemon octopus, but then I read the word ‘beaks’ in the recipe and freaked out. I love octopus (ohhhh pulpo), but I think it might be best to start off with something gentle. In fact, better to start off with something that will work, so that I get my confidence up.
There is a recipe in our new Woman’s Weekly cookbook for a very simple chunky vegetable soup. I used to be quite amazing with soup (brag brag brag), although there is a beautiful ‘Jamie’ garlic soup that a friend made that depressed me about my soup making skills. This is slightly more difficult than the ones I usually make, mainly due to the fact that I am home alone, and could therefore just go buy a wheel of brie and eat that for dinner instead. Darn it, it’s not just about the difficulty of the dish, it’s about overcoming my natural inclination toward (toward or towards? I'm mildly festive right now so I suppose in the face of a good mood it doesn't really matter) laziness and ensuring that I have thighs of steel in time for my first portrait sitting. Being able to feed the lovely boys I live with would be nice as well.
Did you know you can buy just an octopus tentacle? No beaks to worry about!
ReplyDeleteAnd fishmongers will usually clean them for you if you ask (i.e. remove the beak) although they might get snooty and charge a little more.
Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. About the cleaning thing. That is an excellent idea. To be honest, I was more upset by the word 'beak' than anything else... Big bird has a beak. The eagle of doom has a beak. You know, important things have beaks.
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