As I write, there is a loud grating sound that rises and falls with annoying irregularity coming from the back yard. My husband and a guy from work are out there in sweat soaked tee shirts sanding the boat. I'm trying to ignore it.
I have almost mastered the omelet. I actually can get the omelet to be thin and wrinkly golden on the outside and cheesy warm on the inside. The last two times I have been able to loosen the edge and flip it over with no major omelet form damage.
Keep in mind that this took no less than a year's worth of experimentation, with large and misshapen mistakes along the way. The trick is a really hot, oiled pan and to precook all the fillings.
Lately I have been entranced with Jamie Oliver's "Jamie at Home" cooking show. I mean, what's not to love? He has a huge, working garden. He has a huge, summer kitchen with wood burning stove as well as gas. He does incredible things with vegetables. When he wants thyme, he goes and get some from the garden. Lavender? It's there. Anything at all, it's growing within reach.
He's clearly so comfortable with cooking that he rarely ever gives amounts, it's all, "a handful of this," or "a squirt of that." He's just having fun. (When he does give amounts, it's invariably in grams or something else indecipherable.)
I have decided I need a more scientific approach to cooking than the one I've been using, which is mainly to search desperately for yet another recipe using ground beef and then get distracted by some wildly inappropriate dish that Keith would never eat. I want to develop an underlying understanding instead, one of cuts and techniques and even sauces.
For example, I want to be able to make a steak au poivre, or to know the difference between a blade roast and a rump roast. I'll try preparing one kind of retail cut beef per week, beginning with Chuck. (Run, Chuck, run!) I will look for a Boneless Chuck Eye Roast to start.
We'll see how that goes.
In other news, the first FRG meeting happened, apparently. It wasn't much of a success. So the next one will be mandatory, but no one plans on showing up for that one either. Updates as events warrant.
