Write Back Weekend "Half Baked"
Before I begin talking about TITMT recipes, I have to ask something. Lately I have noticed that I have been getting a lot of traffic through Google image searches.
Juliette Lewis. Sean Astin. Kirk Cameron is a particularly popular search.
And here's the other thing, those searches? Are almost always from a foreign country! I suppose it wouldn't be that weird if someone was just searching for a good picture of Julia Roberts, but I feel bad when they might not be able to read what they are finding. Maybe that's why they are coming back everyday. They are trying to learn English from my posts, too.
I thought for sure once or twice would be enough for these people, but I am gettingmultiple hits for the same "celebrities" every day. And I don't write about them all the time. All I have to do is mention them once or twice and poof, traffic for life. I mean I've always gotten random hits before, but this has been ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying. Does this happen to anyone else?
Ok, moving on to the topic at hand- cooking. On Tuesday I asked you to tell me some of your favorite recipes. 27 of you replied, 6 of which were you guys admitting that you didn't actually know how to cook. Commenting anyway takes chops. Or it means you won't be marinating any pork chops. Either way.
As for the rest of you, I did receive some great new recipes, but I wanted to take this opportunity to explain something to you on behalf of the brave novices listed above who may or may not want to try cooking something one day.
You cannot be vague when you are giving a recipe.
I don't understand this mentality. For instance, if I ask you what your favorite recipe is and you say you like lasagna this, people IS NOT a recipe. All you did is merely tell me a food you enjoy. Some people might not cook, but that doesn't mean they don't eat! The last time I checked the TITMT question wasn't what is your favorite food, it was what is your favorite recipe.
Then there are the chefs who are one step above nonchalantly mentioning the foods they like to make. These people will tell you the ingredients you need, but never the details like how much, how long or how many. Old school cooks are notorious for this. If you get a recipe from my grandmother and you ask her how much say, pepper to put in, she looks at you like you are crazy and says "enough". A pinch of this, a dash of that, cook it till it's ready type people...you know the kind I'm talking about. These people do NOT help out the cook by numbers variety who like to follow steps. If they wanted to experiment, they wouldn't be going to you for guidance.
Since I knew I wasn't going to get to try and make any of your recipes in time for this weekend's Write Back, I thought I'd tell you the story of the recipe I did make this week. I went to a luau yesterday at my cousin's house and wanted to bring a side dish. My boyfriend's mom makes a very good tuna with macaroni salad that I wanted to try and make. Incidentally, my mom makes one too, but there's one or two differing ingredients that I wanted to hunker down on.
I called up my bf's mom to get the recipe and quickly noticed she falls under old school, halfway cookers I mentioned above. This is what she told me I needed:
2 cans of tuna, any kind I prefer, but at least one should probably be in oil
elbow macaroni
finely chopped onion
finely chopped pepper
parsley
mayonnaise
salt and pepper
Boil the macaroni. Add more mayonnaise then you think it needs. Add all of the other ingredients and mix.
Now that seems like a simple enough recipe, right? And easy to follow, too?
Only once you actually go to make it do you realize you still have questions:
1. How much onion?
2. How much pepper?
3. Do you fry the onion and pepper or put them in raw?
4. Do you need to use the oil from the one can of tuna?
5. Does the parsley need to be fresh?
6. Is this stuff I bought parsley?
7. Why is it so damn hard to finely chop these things?
The lesson here is that people who have been cooking for ages take a lot of their cutting corners for granted. You can't assume because yes, it makes an ass out of u and me, but you also shouldn't assume because quite frankly, it just isn't nice.
So I'm gonna use some tough love on you people. I counted 13, hard core, detailed recipes in there, all of which I am going to try at some point or another. I also learned that according to half of those recipes, I apparently really need to go out and purchase and embrace the joy of owning a crock pot.
So if you are one of the thirteen, you will most likely see your recipe on here one day. Of course, I can't tell you exactly when it will be coming.
After all, a watched pot post never boils.
Juliette Lewis. Sean Astin. Kirk Cameron is a particularly popular search.
And here's the other thing, those searches? Are almost always from a foreign country! I suppose it wouldn't be that weird if someone was just searching for a good picture of Julia Roberts, but I feel bad when they might not be able to read what they are finding. Maybe that's why they are coming back everyday. They are trying to learn English from my posts, too.
I thought for sure once or twice would be enough for these people, but I am gettingmultiple hits for the same "celebrities" every day. And I don't write about them all the time. All I have to do is mention them once or twice and poof, traffic for life. I mean I've always gotten random hits before, but this has been ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining, I'm just saying. Does this happen to anyone else?
Ok, moving on to the topic at hand- cooking. On Tuesday I asked you to tell me some of your favorite recipes. 27 of you replied, 6 of which were you guys admitting that you didn't actually know how to cook. Commenting anyway takes chops. Or it means you won't be marinating any pork chops. Either way.
As for the rest of you, I did receive some great new recipes, but I wanted to take this opportunity to explain something to you on behalf of the brave novices listed above who may or may not want to try cooking something one day.
You cannot be vague when you are giving a recipe.
I don't understand this mentality. For instance, if I ask you what your favorite recipe is and you say you like lasagna this, people IS NOT a recipe. All you did is merely tell me a food you enjoy. Some people might not cook, but that doesn't mean they don't eat! The last time I checked the TITMT question wasn't what is your favorite food, it was what is your favorite recipe.
Then there are the chefs who are one step above nonchalantly mentioning the foods they like to make. These people will tell you the ingredients you need, but never the details like how much, how long or how many. Old school cooks are notorious for this. If you get a recipe from my grandmother and you ask her how much say, pepper to put in, she looks at you like you are crazy and says "enough". A pinch of this, a dash of that, cook it till it's ready type people...you know the kind I'm talking about. These people do NOT help out the cook by numbers variety who like to follow steps. If they wanted to experiment, they wouldn't be going to you for guidance.
Since I knew I wasn't going to get to try and make any of your recipes in time for this weekend's Write Back, I thought I'd tell you the story of the recipe I did make this week. I went to a luau yesterday at my cousin's house and wanted to bring a side dish. My boyfriend's mom makes a very good tuna with macaroni salad that I wanted to try and make. Incidentally, my mom makes one too, but there's one or two differing ingredients that I wanted to hunker down on.
I called up my bf's mom to get the recipe and quickly noticed she falls under old school, halfway cookers I mentioned above. This is what she told me I needed:
2 cans of tuna, any kind I prefer, but at least one should probably be in oil
elbow macaroni
finely chopped onion
finely chopped pepper
parsley
mayonnaise
salt and pepper
Boil the macaroni. Add more mayonnaise then you think it needs. Add all of the other ingredients and mix.
Now that seems like a simple enough recipe, right? And easy to follow, too?
Only once you actually go to make it do you realize you still have questions:
1. How much onion?
2. How much pepper?
3. Do you fry the onion and pepper or put them in raw?
4. Do you need to use the oil from the one can of tuna?
5. Does the parsley need to be fresh?
6. Is this stuff I bought parsley?
7. Why is it so damn hard to finely chop these things?
The lesson here is that people who have been cooking for ages take a lot of their cutting corners for granted. You can't assume because yes, it makes an ass out of u and me, but you also shouldn't assume because quite frankly, it just isn't nice.
So I'm gonna use some tough love on you people. I counted 13, hard core, detailed recipes in there, all of which I am going to try at some point or another. I also learned that according to half of those recipes, I apparently really need to go out and purchase and embrace the joy of owning a crock pot.
So if you are one of the thirteen, you will most likely see your recipe on here one day. Of course, I can't tell you exactly when it will be coming.
After all, a watched
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