Member Since:
Jun. 2008
Cooking Level:
Intermediate
Cooking Interests:
Baking, Slow Cooking, Asian, Mexican, Indian, Italian, Southern, Nouvelle, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Healthy, Kids, Quick & Easy
Hobbies:
Knitting, Gardening, Boating, Fishing, Reading Books, Music
So I'm a Florida girl... Graduated high school in June of 2008, and am now freezing my posterior off in Ohio because my boyfriend thought it would be a cute idea. No doubt, it was - but here I sit, cold, always, unable to do anything but shiver ten months out of the year! My mom taught me to cook at a young age. I think my first flirtation with the kitchen was when the stove taught my hand the word 'hot'. It's been an on-going romance since them: and so much, that, I believe the boyfriend is getting jealous!
My favorite things to cook
My favorites vary with the seasons, truly. Since I nanny, I've had to forgo most of my cooking to suit their non-vegetable tastes, which is a total bummer. Any sort of dessert is amazing, and I love any Mexican/Cuban/Latin cuisine. Quick and Easy is my game, and Under 30 Minutes is the name - if I can help it!
My favorite family cooking traditions
I can't actually remember any, however: I believe that it's genetic for the women in my family to enjoy hosting. Not that I do too much respectable dinner entertaining at my apartment, I was always taught never to walk into a home without something yummy with you! And so the rule remains unbroken. I try so many meals, as does my mother, that we really have no "signature" recipe. So the only true tradition that I can say shy of lying to you all is: Writing down recipes? (*snicker*) But no, honestly, my last name is Cook. It's practically a sin in my family if you can't - so shy of being disowned, the only serious tradition is that we know how to cook!
My cooking triumphs
Ali ate veggies!!!!! The sweet darling actually ate a chicken pot pie FULL to the brim with peas and celery and carrots and corn and greenbeans - AND HE DIDN'T CHOKE OR SCREAM!!!!! WoOt. Score 1: Nanny Melissa!
My cooking tragedies
I am in a never-ending battle with my oven and cookie sheets on the blackening of my croissant bottoms. it's so simple, but so frustrating. I don't even make them myself. Maybe the Pillsbury Doughboy will come to my rescue? They're his croissants... The stupid things refuse to stay one color. Gooey on the inside if the bottoms are a wonderful golden brown. But burnt to a crisp once they're toasted nicely all the way through.
What's this?