Being a Grown-Up: Cooking

Staring at the beginning of April, I began cooking for myself. It has not always been easy. Cooking three meals a day—three full meals with enough calories, nutrients, and vitamins—is difficult, I’ve found. For a while, my refrigerator was out of commission and I had to use my host family’s fridge or hope things wouldn’t go bad too quickly. This was mostly okay since it has been cold outside more often than not. Knowing it wouldn’t last, however, I buckled down and spent the money on a new power stabilizer. So now I have cold milk, frozen chicken, and spinach that doesn’t go bad in two days.

The downside to the cold climate that has been so persistent through the last month is that it means everyone’s using the gas for heat and cooking. I’ve had a couple cooking failures due to low gas. My first attempt at fried rice ended up in dried out rice because the heat took so long to cook everything.

I’ve had some successes as well. I splurged and bought the vegetables needed to cook a proper Mexican food feast. The required vegetables won’t be cheap for another month or so. But I wanted my fajitas, so I did it. And oh, was it worth it. I made refried beans the night before, then fajitas with chicken, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese and lavash (basically tortillas).

I’ve gotten pretty good also at potatoes (though trying to make French fries was downright painful), noodles, lentils, and mixing all of the above together when need be. I also had success making rice and beans. It took awhile to get the protein levels up, but I’ve started buying sausage and chicken, so I’ve got something besides lentils now.

Thank goodness spring is coming, or I’d be in trouble. I worry about getting enough fruits and vegetables, and oranges are still expensive, but everything’s getting better. I’ve started to see eggplant, tomatoes and bell peppers. I’ve heard other places have seen strawberries, too. Winter will be painful, but for now, food is getting more exciting, more varied, and more delicious. I just need to learn how to cook an eggplant now.