December Talking Meme: What I like to cook (Dec 3)

[dhampyresa]

schneefink :What do you like to cook?

Food for other people.

I know this probably isn't the answer you expected, but the thing is, I have huge amounts of trouble cooking for myself. It just doesn't seem worth it to go to all that trouble to cook food for one person. I mean, I've once invite a friend over with: "I want to cook, but I can't cook for one. Just show up so I can make food, please?"

The thing about food in my family, it's that it's not about food, not really. It's about the people and having time to sit down and have a conversation with company. (I would say that goes for all French people, actually: the food's just an excuse. It's an excuse we take seriously, but it's an excuse anyway.)

(Also, sometimes I forget to eat, never mind cooking, sometimes for several meals in a row. Oops.)

This can be a bit of a problem, given that I live alone, so most of the time I trick myself into cooking food for three people: Me Today, Me Tomorrow and Me Next Week, even though their conversation is not very good.

(Also, they never do anything for me. Why do I keep feeding those jerks, anyway?)

Things I like to cook are also somewhat limited, because I'm not a great cook. I've improved since the time I burned pasta, but still. I like cooking salmon and eggs and fried rice and pasta and jam and crêpes* and curry and potatoes and I have to get Dad to teach me his recipe for cassoulet** and Grandma how to make foie gras and I really need to get better at cooking red meat and I want to know how to do the... Okay, I'll stop here, because then I devolve into French and "the thing with the thing"s.

There are still open spots for my December talking meme.


*Crêpes are one of my favourite things to cook, but I sadly don't have a billig. Don't know how I'm going to manage Chandeleur yet.
**Remember when I said it wasn't worth it to cook for just one person? This is an 8 people minimum recipe and the beans have to soak for at least 24h before you even start cooking them properly.

Comments

[schneefink]

Yes, cooking for one person is much less satisfying, I completely agree. Even eating alone is harder, I'm much more likely to skip meals when I'm on my own. It's fine now that I still live with my family, but I'll have to think of something when I move out.

[dhampyresa]

I once went three days without eating, beacuse I couldn't be assed to eat alone. I've since gotten into the habit of setting an alarm for meal time. It helps, a little.

[yantantether]

(Also, they never do anything for me. Why do I keep feeding those jerks, anyway?)

That made me chuckle! Cooking for other people is definitely more fun. I do a rather functional kind of cooking for myself, but only really try out new recipes when I've got friends over.

[dhampyresa]

Thank you. Cooking for one is boring. Much better to cook for more.

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

om nom nom nom. yes, cooking for yourself is just kind of... more effort than it's worth, usually? but feeding other people is delivering feelings to other people, so.

and you've made me hungry :P

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

"Delivering feelings", exactly!

Mission accomplished, then.