*yawn* Good morning. Why I dig food.
Little Filthy and I are lazy morning-ing it. He has fallen back asleep on the bed and I am sipping coffee at the computer, looking for a decent preparation for monkfish. I am having guests over tomorrow night and have decided on doing a simple, seasonal meal. I am making a bacon wrapped monkfish and beef tenderloin. I was going to wrap the monkfish in prosciutto but I’ve heard that prosciutto gets funky in the oven. Bacon, it is. Steamed asparagus. Simple green salad. I’m deciding between a jasmine rice or baby new potatoes. Who the hell knows.
Why the heck am I such a foodie? My mother worked in the evenings when I was younger. When my sister and I came home from school, she’d have a meal prepared with instructions on how to cook it. She’s an excellent cook. My father is an excellent eater. This is not to be underappreciated. He could work all day and if my mother had made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he’d have beamed and said, “Thank you!” He was just happy someone made something for him. Anyway, I got to enjoy preparing food and to appreciate people eating it.
Cooking for someone you like or love it great. It is like saying to someone, “You have this basic need…and I wish to fulfill it.“ What could be a better indication of caring about someone?
Having said all of that, it’s entirely possible that I’ll botch the meal tomorrow night and you know, it won’t phase me. At least my guests will know I gave it a go. What’s the worse that could happen? We scrap the meal and order pizza? Sounds like a good evening to me on all counts. Plus, by then, everyone will be so drunk on wine, I might just tell them that I made the pizza myself.
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Just a random attorney writing about daily life with Little Filthy, my rotten dog.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:22 am
What a sweet story about your parents. And a lovely way of describing why you’d cook for someone you care about.
I hope all goes well tomorrow. But you’re right, if pizza is the worst that could happen, it’ll still be a great time.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:30 am
a typical dinner for me? oh. i don’t DARE say on this foodie-like blog! lol. just know i am laughing laughing laughing at how pathetic i am as a cook. i was born in the wrong class. i need a maid, a cook, a butler, and a gardener
oh and a pool boy for the summer.
but i digress away from your post. sorry. blogging on your blog now. lol.
good morning sunshine
April 27th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Wow, I could have written your post word for word today. We’re usually morning people but we slept in until 9am *gasp.*
I love your thoughts on cooking for someone. It’s nice to create something and have someone enjoy it. Chris is the same way as your dad – I could make him soup and he’d be like, “this is the best soup EVAR – thanks for making if for me!” Service is definitely my “love language.”
You and the monkfish! You will have to give me your recipe! I made a parmesan-crusted halibut yesterday at the cooking studio over a bed of sauteed ramps and fiddlehead ferns. It was the yum! I’ve always been scared of cooking fish but it’s actually pretty simple! Chris and Cole love it when I slather lemon olive oil and Kosher salt on asparagus and then roast it. We eat that a LOT. Tonight I’m making braised short ribs, asparagus and mashed potatoes with a hint of white truffle cream. I bought a potato ricer yesterday so I’m pretty excited to use it. I also bought a chef’s 4-sider apron and a microplane grater
Wow, this might be my longest comment ever
– It’s your fault for blogging about food – my favorite subject!
April 27th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hi, Angie – thank you. You’re very kind.
April 27th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Brenda – Good morning!
Seriously – what do you cook?
What’s your best meal?
I’d like a masseuse and housekeeper.
-R.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Bev –
I knew as soon as I typed Monkfish that I’d be hearing from you about it. I know, I know, it makes me sound like a gay dude. heh. What about benefactor? He gave the hulk a BJ. All I did was make some monkfish!
Ramps and fiddleheads! Very spring. Very seasonal. I bet it was fantastic. What temperature do you roast your asparagus at? I’m going to use your preparation and make it. I use my microplane quite a bit. I dig it.
Chris cracks me up. I can hear him saying that. “Bev! Best cup of water, EVAR.” You two are great.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Uhm. I can make anything that requires boiling water, straining it, and throwing the contents of boiling water in a dish with various other ingredients.
Cooking in the oven scares me. I’m afraid I’ll under-cook the food and make everyone sick. I used to cook, but I don’t know what’s become of me
But I do make a mean chocolate chip cookie. My redemption, perhaps!
I forgot masseuse. Yeah, one of those too
April 27th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I can’t remember if I’ve ever eaten monkfish. Jesse and play a little game where we’ll send pictures of really ugly animals to each other and just say “that’s you.” It’s dumb, but fun. He called me a monkfish a few weeks ago.
I am a horrible cook, but I’m making an effort to cook more often and improve. I need to have a few yummy meals in my repertoire so that I can entertain occasionally.
On daycare days, I pack Elsa a little sampler platter for lunch loaded with yummy and healthy little chunks of goodies. It’s like toddler tapas. It brings me such satisfaction to pack those for her, I can’t even tell you.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Sounds great…I’m sure it’ll be a fantastic hit and you’ll be a fab host. As you’ve said before, with enough good wine you can serve Subway and it’s divine.
We cook fairly low calorie, simple foods. With four kids it’s more about being fast than anything else. When they are hungry they want to eat five minutes ago.
We do quite a bit of whole wheat pasta with various sauces, lots of grilled chicken dishes, and resort to our diverse repertoire of salads and crunchy french bread at least twice a week. My children are not picky, they’ll eat anything, they’ll try anything…very adventurous eatters. As long as it’s fast they’ll be happy.
If it’s not raining we grill practically everything on the BBQ…veggies, meats, whatevah… if you can grill it we will.
My parents are both HORRID cooks, we never had any kind of scheduled meal time…it was always sort of, fend for yourself in our free flowing no-rules household. Now that I’m an adult I love that we sit down each night together to eat and talk, and I adore hosting dinner parties for friends and big buffet style holiday get togethers. If feels so homey to me.
Have a great time, and enjoy your monk fish.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
is it totally wrong that i vaguely want you to do that thing in that pizza hut commercial where they have all those fake people making fake pretentious comments about the fake horrendous pasta and then the fake pizza hut boys come out and the fake chef says “i didn’t cook, it was pizza hut!” i mean, i don’t think you’ll HAVE to.
but doesn’t it sounds sorta fun?
ps having prosciutto, mozzarella and pesto from luca brasi’s for dinner. get excited.
April 27th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Your dinner sounds fun! Yesterday Bev and I got away to a cooking class where we went to the market with the chef and picked out all the ingredients. Then tasted everything individually (even down to the salt) and then started making a meal. It was wonderful.
I have a feeling I’m like your Dad. I’m just happy as hell someone went through the effort to make food. Whenever Bev cooks (and she is amazing), it’s always wonderful. It doesn’t matter what it is. Cole always wants me to ask his Mom what’s for dinner and I always tell him I don’t care cuz I know it’ll be great.
I’m sure your dinner went well – I’m tearing through some blogs I didn’t get to read earlier this week and I’m hoping to find out how it went!
April 27th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Brenda – Dammit, now I want a cookie.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
KrystieLee – Yes, the monkfish is…wow, really ugly. You’re far prettier – but that’s a funny game. Toddler Tapas! I laughed at that. That’s perfect. That’s awesome she gets such variety.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Tiffany – that is fantastic that your kids are adventurous eaters. Far more difficult with ones who are not. Your household growing up sounds very…Pippi Longstocking. *laugh* I dig it. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.
-R.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Vittoria -
RandomEsq thought bubble magic:
. o O (How can I re-create this Pizza Hut commercial tomorrow night…Hmmm…)
Dude. Proscuitto, mozzerlla and pesto?! From Luca Brasi’s?! DAMMIT. I’m moving to Hoboken.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
LynchSeattle – Yes, it sounds like you’re very similar to my father in that respect. In all others, he falls woefully short of you.
April 27th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I’ll bring some when I come to Chicago
April 27th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
No other place in the great US of A can you get such a heavenly combo while being served by a guy who could have PLAYED Luca Brasi.
Or at least Al Neri.