cooking

i've done a lot of it recently, and i've really wanted to be able to add some of it to butwesuckatcooking, but it's been pretty good! which i guess is a better result than being able to blog there. still, i kinda wanted to make an appearance. i was thinking about writing about the nasty cookies melissa and i made a while ago... perhaps i shall. ANYWAY, on to the good cooking i've done!

the other day i realized we had a banana that was starting to turn. i thought, "hey, i'll make banana bread!" my mother makes really good banana bread, but i've never attempted it, so i looked on the internet for a simple, yummy-looking recipe. after finding an acceptable one with as few ingredients as possible, i still had to go to the store for baking soda and bananas... yes, the whole reason i chose to make the bread was the banana, but one cannot make an entire loaf of bread with only one. i went to the store and got the ingredients; unfortunately, all the bananas were borderline green. i bought them anyway. with only one error in the process (luckily disaster was avoided, as that part was thrown out and restarted for the end product) and an hour later, this was the result:a beautiful and extremely tasty treat! the outside was crusty and sweet with the inside light and fluffy. i probably will not be able to duplicate this.

then, the next night i decided to make some flavorful pasta with an assortment of ingredients andrew was sure to love. despite the somewhat overcooked whole wheat pasta, this pungent dish was a favorite with andrew. i'm not a fan of all these flavors joined together at once, somewhat overbearing i think, but i really made it for him, and he liked it.

next, i decided to attempt the ever-dreaded souffle (only correctly pronounced swaffle - like rhymes with waffle). i chose a chocolate souffle with a simple recipe of just eggs, sugar, chocolate, and a crock-pot dish buttered and covered in sugar. the crock-pot dish made an appearance because after i'd planned and bought ingredients for this endeavor, i realized i didn't have a souffle dish. this is my proudest accomplishment in the kitchen thusfar, and i have not a single picture! i bought the best bittersweet chocolate i could find, along with organic brown eggs, organic sweetened butter, and regular old sugar. i meticulously followed every direction to the t, and ended up with a fabulously delicious chocolate souffle. i topped it off with fresh blackberries and enjoyed it with vanilla silk - quite extravagant for a sunday night. lora made a similar sort of thing the other night that incorporated many similar ingredients, except hers was a flourless chocolate cake (also delicious), so it had a thicker, creamier consistency.

i'm not sure what my next cooking adventure will be, but i'm excited to get back in the kitchen! (wow, that's weird to say given my general lack of girly-ness and domesticity!)
i promise to post again soon with some non-food-related trivia :-)