Don’t Overthink It…

When Kelson and I first lived together in our tiny one-bedroom L.A. apartment, I wanted to make him a delicious dinner.  One of the things I had mastered from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook was Spanish rice.

I threw in my ingredients.  I barely looked at the cookbook, because I was confident!  I was cooking for my man!  Threw everything together.  Stopped.  Re-read the sections.  Looked at my pot of goodies.  Suddenly, felt less confident.  Re-read the sections.  Looked again at my pot.  Breathed.  Trusted my gut… but then double checked that I read the recipe correctly.  Cover the pot and wait.

Do you smell burning?

::SOB::

Between swearing and crying, I was horrified… sad… and ashamed.

Kelson was a cook.  His idea of making dinner for his girlfriend (a.k.a. me) was a shrimp risotto with roasted red bell peppers and white wine.  Say what?!?  I couldn’t even cook without a recipe!  Even with a recipe, it wasn’t guaranteed it would turn out right or edible.  So what was I doing wrong?

This leads to our gap in blogging.  I started to wonder what exactly I had to say about cooking.  What did we have to say about cooking?  Or food?  Or anything.

I have the bad habit of over-thinking things.

Don’t overthink it…

Food nourishes us and sustains us.  Food was always a part of growing up… whether it was trying to stick chopsticks at fresh clams in a bowl to see if they take hold… or whether it was remembering Kelson’s grandmother making moonshine in the bathroom (true story).  Food takes us to places that are physical as well as our childhood memories.  Food brings us another sensory experience in life.  Food ties us to our identity whether it is our ethnicity, our homes, our families, our friends, and our memories.

Food is the deliciousness of life.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Kitchen lessons…

1.  Trust your gut and know that everything can be fixed… or you can always go out to eat.  🙂

2.  Trust your taste buds… TASTE YOUR FOOD!  Never serve a meal you have not tasted yourself!

3.  Eating and cooking go hand in hand.  Broadening your palate helps your cooking and your sense of what you think is “good”.

4.  Cook with love and for those you love… it really comes through in your food.

5.  Keep it simple, stupid.  This can be applied to more than just cooking.

Quick and Simple Baked Camembert *

*there’s no returning to cold cheese!

Ingredients

• 1x 8 oz. Camembert cheese (brie works as well)
• 6 Garlic cloves
• 2 TBL Rosemary (fresh or dried)
• 2 TBL Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lay out some parchment paper on a baking sheet and place the camembert in the center.
3. Use a knife to slice some holes in the camembert.
4. Slice up some lovely, fresh garlic cloves and place them in the holes you made.
5. Sprinkle some fresh or dried rosemary.
6. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil.
7. Bake that lovely deliciousness in the oven for 25 minutes.
8. Take it out and let it cool.
9. Plate it with some apple slices or some fresh croutons… enjoy!

Let it cool for a bit when it’s done.  I know it’s hard to resist, but piping hot cheese is not a good idea to put into your mouth.  BURNING.  But once it’s cooled, you’ll enjoy one of the most delicious cheese appetizers ever!  You’ll wonder why you ever ate cold cheese!