Quiche Lorraine Sounds So Sophisticated

Back when I was a new cook, I didn’t know much of anything.  Every recipe I looked at impressed me.  When one of my sophisticated friends invited me to dinner and made Spaghetti with Garlic Sauce, I was enthralled.  Only when I dared make it myself did I realize how easy it was.

My first taste of Quiche Lorraine came at a cocktail party.  By then I was slightly more ambitious in the kitchen.  I liked the bacon-y flavor of the quiche but had no idea what was in it.  There was no Internet then, so I went to a bookstore and searched through cookbooks.  That may be when I bought my first copy of “Joy of Cooking,” which included a Quiche Lorraine recipe. 

Goat Cheese – How to Use It

 Occasionally my bargain-hunting outruns my common sense, and I buy way too much of an ingredient because it’s on sale.  About a week ago an irresistible double package of goat cheese landed in my shopping cart.

Once I got it home I began to wonder what I was going to do with 20 ounces of this soft white cheese.  I took one package to a dinner party.  The other sat forlornly in the cheese drawer for a week until I remembered a quiche recipe an English friend sent me.  Conveniently it called for goat cheese.

The directions said

Comfort Food

Blintzes with Pumpkin Butter, Blueberry Jam and Sour Cream

Most children give up their blankies, teddy bears and other childhood comforts as they reach adolescence.  But they often continue to be partial to certain foods that remind them of happy times.  For some, Mashed Potatoes are their comfort food.  Others want Chicken Soup, Fried Chicken, Spaghetti Bolognese, Chocolate, Chips and Salsa, Ice Cream or, as my friend Ilene says, “A cup of hot tea with a really good cookie.”

Are Cooks Born or Trained?

Cheddar Potato Soup

How did you get started in the kitchen?  Curiosity?  Necessity?  A cooking class?

For me, it was necessity.  A newly minted college graduate sharing a one-bedroom apartment in New York, I had a low-paying job and a large appetite.  To keep from going hungry, I had to start cooking.  But I didn’t know how to make anything.

Blast from the 1970's

Cheese Fondue

No wonder someone donated “Chafing Dish & Fondue Cook Book” to my Friends of the Library sale.   Published by Sunset Magazine in 1973, the 80-page book focuses on a style of eating that few people seek out today.

Fondue pots are considered quaint, and chafing dishes are more likely to turn up at garage sales than on somebody’s table.  In case you’re not sure what a chafing dish is,

Monty Python Skit Introduced Me to the World of Cheese

Raclette

When I was growing up, cheese was not a laughing matter, although maybe it should have been.  My family ate only one kind: Velveeta.  We kept a large block of it in the fridge, and it suited our every need.  It melted well for grilled cheese sandwiches, and it also worked as a snack.

When I left home, I moved onto slices of processed cheese, neatly separated by paper or plastic.  Then at my first New York cocktail party, I spotted something white and furry looking, which turned out to be a French cheese called Brie.  It was the beginning of my adult relationship to this new food group.

Is It Possible to Make Dinner for $1?

That used to be my goal when I got my first job and was just feeding myself.  Obviously that was quite a while ago, and it was a goal I could usually meet.  My dinner was not a lavish three-course meal, but it did include a main dish and at least one side dish. 

Most of my kitchen experiments were bland because I grew up with bland: meatloaf, hamburgers, boiled chicken and brisket   However, I did try to make Egg Foo Yung, the oddest dish I’d ever eaten before I left home.  It was exotic and strange yet somehow familiar.  My date had ordered it at a restaurant and gave me a bite.  I recognized an egg taste, but only later did I discover what it actually was--a Chinese omelet filled with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, sliced cabbage, scallions and water chestnuts.  Maybe there was some kind of meat in it.  I don’t remember.

Freezer Surprises

It’s a good thing I bought a new refrigerator.  Now I know what happened to my favorite plastic storage container.  When I emptied out the freezer, there it was, holding a batch of chicken curry that I made back in 2011.

I don’t recall that curry, but the container, which has blue plastic snap-up locks, brought back a happy memory.