[ a big bowl of my mom's banh canh ]
As E often accuses me of, I am not the most flexible person out there... I like making plans and I like sticking to my plans!
That applies to cooking too. I'm absolutely terrible at making things up as I go along, and I'd probably die on Chopped but my momma makes it look all so easy.
Case in point? When all my plans for whale watching got screwy, I got to make banh canh with my momma instead. All made from scratch -- stock, noodles, crab balls, fish sausage, everything! (Crab balls and shrimp sausage make you wrinkle your nose? Sorry, I can't think of other ways of describing them. You should learn Vietnamese!)
That applies to cooking too. I'm absolutely terrible at making things up as I go along, and I'd probably die on Chopped but my momma makes it look all so easy.
Case in point? When all my plans for whale watching got screwy, I got to make banh canh with my momma instead. All made from scratch -- stock, noodles, crab balls, fish sausage, everything! (Crab balls and shrimp sausage make you wrinkle your nose? Sorry, I can't think of other ways of describing them. You should learn Vietnamese!)
Momma does this with no recipe. She likes to throw it all together and taste it as it goes along -- and somehow, no matter what, her dishes always turn out perfectly.
Don't you just hate those people? I sure am jealous. I need recipes, structure, plans... And even then, things can go amiss. Boo.
So here's to making plans, making no plans -- let's just enjoy life this week! (I'm already failing, as I've just graduated and I can't sit around with nothing to do.)
It's like my dad with Persian food: "So how much salt do you put in the stew at this point?" "Oh you know, a little bit." "Like, how little?" "Oh you know, enough." "How much is enough?" "Oh you know, a good amount..."
ReplyDeleteGoing by recipe is too structured--almost too mechanic and unnatural--for them.