Sushi bars… I miss the whole experience - watching that perfect piece of nigiri crafted and presented for me to pop in my mouth immediately. Eating & drinking sake while listening to the itamae’s thoughts on his offerings, seafood, shari, everything.
We will definitely enjoy going out to other restaurants and having them do the cooking, serving and cleaning for a change… but I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would. I enjoy the kits, following the instructions, plating, and there’s a communal feeling photographing, posting and discussing it with others doing the same thing.
I’m also enjoying popping open those cookbooks - that were becoming mostly decoration - and starting to cook outside my usual zone. Another thing I learned? Cooking food from other cultures requires a lot more spices and condiments than I previously had.
that’s the thing that keeps me from doing it (for the most part). By the time I buy all of the spices and condiments, it’s cheaper (and usually tastier) to just go eat that cuisine cooked by somebody else who knows what they’re doing. Thankfully we live in LA where you can eat around the world locally.
I know, right? Those were my thoughts until Covid and getting bored with my own cooking. Even if I don’t always follow every recipe to a T and it doesn’t taste exactly like a restaurant, learning about different flavor profiles has expanded my cooking mojo.
I think I have every spice known to man, so when I review a recipe before going to the store I’ll think “oh, yeah, I’ve got that already”. Then, of course, once I start cooking and go to pull that spice out of my spice drawer it becomes, “WTF, where is that stuff”. I end up pulling all the spices out because I know it’s there, but, alas, it isn’t. And some of “the stuff” isn’t all that exotic
I’m just plain tired of cooking for myself. One of the really nice things that’s happened is that my neighbors and I have been sharing things that we make with each other. Some of my neighbors can cook (and bake too!), some of them can’t.
I have the same issue! For example, yesterday, I knew I had a jar of rarely used molasses tucked away somewhere… Nope! I’m sure I’ll find it after I buy more!
