After eating out non-stop in NYC, I decided I wanted to really try to start cooking. I spent time holed up in Marc’s bathroom reading his Ina Garten cookbooks. He said she’s the best for beginners.
I ordered a bunch of standard cooking necessities from Safeway and had them delivered: flour, chicken stock, sugar, spices, garlic, onions. I scoured the web for simple, easy, basic recipes. The first thing I made was Scallops Provencal which turned out pretty good. I dusted the scallops with flour, salt, and pepper. Then I cooked the scallops and sauteed them in shallots, garlic, and parsley. Then topped that all off with fresh-squeezed lemon juice. I thought the scallops were perfect by their lonesome (especially since I try to stay away from carbs), but Dean said they needed rice or potatoes or something to go with them. Argh, I can’t do it all!
The second thing I tried making was meatloaf. I found a super easy 10-minute recipe that directs you to mix all the ingredients together, mold into a loaf, then bake. Simple enough, right? I checked after the 1 hour timeframe, but it didn’t look cooked at all. 90 minutes later, it still looked undone. 2 hours later and the bottom was completely burnt, but the inside of the meatloaf was still pink. So upsetting! I followed the directions exactly. It said to set the oven to 375 degrees which I did. No where did it say to do anything else which leads me to believe they skipped a step. Maybe I was supposed to increase the temperature at some point?
I hate cooking! What a waste of ingredients, money, and my time which is worth more than anything. Two hours of my life down the cooking drain.
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