A great explanation for my cooking/baking dissociation

[lanalucy]

"I’m a good baker, but I am a terrible cook. ... I’ve heard it’s a left-brain/right-brain kind of thing: people who like cooking like playing it by ear and improvising, while people who like baking tend to be goal-oriented and want to know exactly what their outcome will be. Cooking is an art, but baking is a science, and I’m probably the most scientifically-minded person to graduate with a degree in Drama from NYU."

From here.

Comments

[singerdiva01-sk.livejournal.com]

Wow, I totally identify with this! I love baking and I actually love cooking too but I'm far better at the former. I follow all recipes to the letter but I think cooking recipes require an acquired knowledge of when something is off or even when a recipe is wrong whereas I rarely screw up a baking recipe. (Hello, yesterday's banana bread where I forgot the third banana after the cat sent a vase crashing to the floor.) I love to bake for others, most often colleagues and sometimes friends, but I really am only confident to cook, especially new things, for my closest friends. I do enjoy their honesty, though. Last night, to a pretty complicated pasta/mushroom/gorgonzola dish: "That should have been good but you majorly fu**ed it up." ROFL.

Also, sorry I left this comment under another unrelated one earlier and then deleted it. HOW LONG does it take not to suck at LJ?

[lanalucy]

Heee! I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Love having friends like that. "Dude, what the ever-lovin' fuck is this?"

Yes to the cooking - I can sometimes tell when something is missing or off, but I don't know how to fix it, other than my recently-acquired "add garlic" or "add cayenne" mantra. I've discovered I also like more cayenne in my food than other people do, too. I am getting to be an odd bird in my 40s.

[singerdiva01-sk.livejournal.com]

Dude, a desire to add a shit ton of cayenne to any recipe isn't a sign of aging. It's a sign you'd like to become an honorary (foodie) Texan.

Sincerely,

27 year-old foodie cayenne obsessed because it reminds me of my childhood Texan

[lanalucy]

I am the quintessential "I wasn't born here, but I got here as fast as I could" Texan. My mother was born in Dumas. My father was born in Ruidoso, but moved to Texas when he was just a baby. I was born in Japan, which is not even American soil, much less Texas. I qualify for DAR and DTR through my ancestry, but technically, I'm not a Texan.

Technically.

I have, however, lived in Texas for more than 40 of my 49 years, notwithstanding an unfortunate detour to the State of Missouri in the late 80s. I sometimes like to pretend those five years never happened, so please let me have my delusion. :)

[singerdiva01-sk.livejournal.com]

OMG. Had forgotten (or maybe didn't know) you were a Texan too! (40 of 49 years beats my born there but left at 20 -- I have birthright, you have liferight!)

I'm from Lubbock, all my aunts live in Midland/Odessa, and my grandparents live in Lamesa. My dad's from Portales, NM. I love Texas so much -- the food, the people, the culture -- and yet I was, at the time, sort of run out on a rail for being a feminist activist drawing attention to Lubbock.

So here's a cooking problem you will recognize. Rotel is hard to come by in NYC. Like, have to look in every deli you go in and hope to be lucky and still must rely on mom to just mail it because it's so scarce. Insult to injury: Velveeta is often found in the freezer section. WTF?! Stuff could survive a Cylon holocaust. And here's the biggest warning from a Texan turned NYC'er: bad (too much sugary mix, weak tequila, not enough salt) margaritas run $13 a drink. Yup, you read that right. No $15 pitchers here, cowgirls.

Don't mess with Texas women. ;)

[lanalucy]

Velveeta in the FREEZER section? What is wrong with people? lol

I could never be an alcoholic in NYC. I am WAY too cheap. Hahaha!

If mom ever can't get you Rotel, I'll be happy to ship it. :D

[singerdiva01-sk.livejournal.com]

RE: the Velveeta. IDEK. But it's standard across the city. At the very least it's in the fridge. They seem to be under the impression it's real cheese. Fools.

Thanks for the offer of Rotel help! But be careful because I may have a whole list. HEB tortillas. Deep Eddy's grapefruit vodka. Rosa's Cantina anything. Taco C. anything. Mexican martinis from Trudy's. Chilton's.

Frak. Now I'm starving and homesick. Someone call me an ugly, disgraceful, sinful dyke before I think it's a good idea to move home!

[lanalucy]

I am a complete bitch, so I am going to mention Blue Bell.

*runs away cackling as fast as possible*

HEB hasn't made it here yet. It's made it as far north as Waco. Central Market is here, though. But every time I go home (San Antonio), I have to go to HEB at least once, even if I'm not going to buy anything. :)

I think we're allowed to have dykes in Texas. If not, no one ever told me. I've known more than a few. lol Maybe it's the sinful part? We are in the Bible belt, though I think of the metroplex as more the local willy-wagger. Heeee!

[singerdiva01-sk.livejournal.com]

HA! Every single Texan I know would slap my wrist for neglecting Blue Bell. One problem: I hate all ice cream no matter what brand. I know, I accept the shame.

HEB hasn't made it to Lubbock yet, we have our own high end local store brand that's managed to fend them off. (I went to UT Austin, explaining my HEB love) Central Market. There was one in Austin but it was in too wealthy of an are for me to find an excuse to go. Lots of friends liked it and I'm glad you do too!

Dykes are allowed in Texas, I think. A high femme lesbian masquerading (because she had no idea) as an evangelical, virginity pledging teen just fighting for comprehensive sex education to the point there was national attention and a movie on the topic...well, yeah. It's not so much that I go back and get called out for being a lesbian. It's more I go back and get called out for being me. (banghead)

(BTW: Am on a long flight so you are under no obligation to keep commenting back!)

[lanalucy]

I can eat Blue Bell, Breyers, or homemade ice cream. Everything else makes me ill. :/

Central Market is HEB's answer to Whole Foods. It's ginormous, and clean, and has a fantastic selection of various things, but it is on the spendy side. It's also laid out like Ikea. You have to go the way they tell you - you can't just pop in, get something, and get right back out. It's a maze. lol