Captured: Journal Entry

i am a rabbit from now on. – 2010/07/25

What the – Recipe ingredient lists scare me

For someone that is constantly food stalking on tastespotting, you’d think I would not only make good food, but also be fairly knowledgable of different spices and herbs.

Nope.

I am all about quick and easy. KD. Pizza. Spaghetti. Sometimes if I am feeling real adventurous I’ll switch from tomato sauce to alfredo. Okay, I’m being way too hard on myself. I can actually make decent meals, and a couple of weeks ago I did really well with planning five nights of real dinners. So why can’t I do that every work week? I guess time would be a huge factor. Also maybe a shortage of recipes (that I can follow). But the biggest problem? I get scared, no– terrified, when I see a recipe with a long list of ingredients.

Because first of all, I have never heard of one or more of the ingredients listed. Secondly, my kitchen is kind of empty– I probably don’t have what ever fancy thing the recipe calls for.

Herbs and spices are by far the worst. If there is a recipe with a bunch of different herbs and spices, forget about it, you’ve lost me. I have even gotten confused over “4 scallion whites, thinly sliced (keep the greens for later)” I’m sorry, what? Then I felt like an idiot when I googled it. I literally walk past it all the time in the grocery store, plus my mother uses it a lot. Why can’t they just call it, stalk onion, or something.

I’ve never bought fresh garlic cloves either. I have no idea what I would do with them. Is that just terrible?

Once something called for rice wine vinegar, I nearly hid in my closet, defeated. Rice. Wine. Vinegar. Really? And mangetout? What the– those flat green bean things? Call it that, those flat green bean things. And fresh chopped coriander? No. Just NO.

I really have no idea where to go from here. How am I suppose to know what spice/herbs I should be investing in, and then when I do, how do I know what should be used in what? Are there books? I’m scared. Can’t I just hire a personal chef? Haha, no. What on earth is a girl to do?

Signed,

Hungry & Terrified

Am I the only one?