Watched pots
Don’t you love waiting in for delivery companies? I feel like a child on Christmas eve, struggling to sleep and running to the window at the slightest little sound.
No delivery today, so I get to experience the excitement again tomorrow!
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Hm, I wonder what’s in that cake they’re eating!
Cooking
I love cooking. I don’t necessarily enjoy eating, but I love cooking. Maybe it’s an art thing, taking a hodgepodge of ingredients and turning them into something tasty. Or maybe it’s a dessert thing, because I do love all things sweet. Or maybe it’s a shopping thing!
It is a shopaholic’s dream kitting out a well-equipped kitchen. My favourite purchases to date are my Le Creuset pans. Trust me when I say that as expensive as they may seem, they are worth every penny and will last a very long time. Foods cook evenly over moderately low temperatures and taste more vibrant. Ratatouille cooked in my shallow casserole tasted delicious as a whole, but I was amazed at how the individual flavour of each vegetable stood out without being overwhelming. Roasted chickens cook to perfection in my oval roaster, and various soup and gratin dishes have graced my French ovens.
Like toast? Well, don’t settle for a cheap toaster you’ll only end up replacing every few years. Go right for the professional choice and get a Dualit toaster. Made in Great Britain, these guys are built tough to handle all the bread you can throw at them. Get a Vario model with sandwich cages and lunch will become super-easy. A little butter, some sliced deli meat if you like, a bit of cheese, and in just a few minutes the Dualit will present you with a golden toasty sandwich.
You may think rice cookers are frivolous, but if you enjoy rice and eat it often you really should invest in one of these time-savers. At the moment I own a very inexpensive model which has just two settings–cook and warm. It’s ever so easy to use, and I haven’t suffered burned rice once since buying it. But I have my eye on the Zojirushi induction rice cooker, which is capable of handling any type of rice imagineable and has a special programme for GABA rice, which is germinated brown rice. Cooking with this programme activates various enzymes and gives the rice a more complete amino acid profile. It’s an easy way to make a dietary staple even healthier.
My next tool is going to have to be a cook’s blowtorch. I made creme brulees for the first time last night, and though they turned out better than I’d hoped, caramelising the demerara sugar under a hot grill wasn’t incredibly effective. Nothing a little practice and the right tool won’t cure, and if I have to eat a few trial brulees, I’ll cope!
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