That's chef mad anthony to you....

When I was younger and still lived with the 'rents, I used to actually cook sometimes. I'd help my mom cook, or offer to make dinner.

Oddly enough, since I started living on my own, and actually needing to cook so that I don't starve to death, as opposed to for entertainment, I stopped cooking. There were two things that got me out of the cooking habit - my first real job was a night shift, which meant that cooking a real dinner rarely made sense - I lived off of Taco Bell and pizza bites. Also, for about 3 years I lived in a house that didn't have a real kitchen in easy reach. It was a shared brownstone, and my floor had a kitchenette of sorts - microwave, sink, fridge, but no real stove or oven - just a toaster oven and one of those $8 electric burners. There was a huge gourmet kitchen two floors down, but I was too lazy to carry all my shit down there to cook. Plus, my landlord/housemat was a neat freak, and I didn't want to be bothered with making in sparkle post-cooking. I also didn't have a whole lot of time to cook, plus spending a whole bunch of time cooking for one doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So now I have my own place, with a real kitchen. Granted, it's a tiny kitchen - the listing called it a "3-step kitchen" - it's basically a galley kitchen. Still, it's got some counter space, and an actual stove and oven - which I seldom used. I've developed such a reputation as someone who doesn't cook that a few months ago I had some free time and invited bsom and his wife over for sausage and peppers, and they were amazed that I could brown an onion.

But I decided to take a stab at cooking again last night - starting small. I made sauerkraut. I was motivated by two factors - a craving for sauerkraut and a copious amount of hot dogs - I had bought a bunch on sale, plus had a bunch left over from my party.

It came out pretty good, and my house barely reeks of onions

Mmmm... sour

wanna touch my wiener?


So I'm hoping in the next couple months, now that I have time, I will actually try cooking some more. It reminded me of my parents, of being home, of pleasant memories from my youth. Plus it tasted good.