By Meme

Stolen from Lucy over at Nourish Me

What were you cooking five years ago?

Five years ago I was finishing my freshman year of college and contemplating writing a book on cooking a multiple-course meal with only a hot pot and a paring knife. (I think someone beat me to it?)

What were you cooking 10 years ago?

Ten years ago (circa age 13), I had just discovered the joys of cooking, thanks to my ennui with my single father's reliance on deli takeout combined with our accidental subscription to Food & Wine magazine. From ten to twelve I went through a recipe mania, cutting and printing recipes from the newfangled internet and all the cooking magazines I could get my hands on, and cataloging them in a giant three-ring binder. By age thirteen I a) realized that I'd rather cook freestyle than per recipe; and b) recognized that I needed to cook in a way that my thirteen-year-old lifestyle (homework, sports teams, music practice, friends) could sustain. So I started making Sunday the cooking day, staying up until the wee hours pickling produce, boiling rice, baking pasta, freezing fruit, chopping vegetables, portioning snacks, and writing menus for the week. The Sunday frenzy dissipated by the time high school rolled around, but lately I've been craving that regiment and ritual.

Five snacks you enjoy:

Trader Joe's desiccated (I think) snap peas
Whatever leftovers are in the fridge
Vegan chicken tenders/nuggets/wings
Tea and toast
Wine/beer and cheese (which, I recognize, could be a whole category unto itself)

Five recipes you know by heart:

I don't really use recipes. But there are a few combos I keep coming back to:
Basic frittata (to be embellished as ingredients-on-hand permit)
Really great roasted potatoes
My signature bread-dipping sauce
Really great guacamole
My mother's dijon vinaigrette

Five culinary luxuries you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:

Five trips to exotic/exciting locales to enjoy the cuisine and appropriate local culinary training. My current list of destinations would probably be:
Turkey
Thailand
Japan
Southern Italy
And...Morocco? Israel? India? Greece? Oh, the possibilities...

My contribution to this survey -- Five culinary indulgences you crave, and can afford without being a millionaire:

Red siphon bottle from Williams Sonoma (see below)
Windowsill herb garden
Garlic press (for when I move and can't use my roommate's any more....see below again)
Turkish coffee set
Vacu-vin pump

Five foods you love to cook:

Eggs! One-hundred-and-one ways.
Pasta, but the end result is generally more sauce/vegetables and less noodle.
Tempeh, probably my favorite meat stand-in.
Greens, mainly kale, because of the constant cravings.
Fresh seasonal vegetables. This moment: asparagus. Recently: blood oranges. Etc.

And one more addition -- Five ingredients you simply adore:

Mangoes
Tortillas
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Salt

Five things you cannot/will not eat:

Red meat, since age eleven
Milk, cream (and/or ice cream, tragically), since age twenty
Foie gras, since my bioethics class/age twenty-one
Most dishes flavored with dill, a lifelong aversion
Pre-packaged desserts (e.g. Twinkies), since my roommate started spoiling me with daily deliveries from Metropolitan Bakery.

Five favourite culinary toys:

GARLIC PRESS.
Cutco knives, from my Cutco saleswoman days, although, honestly, they really are a bit too sharp for regular use.
Red electric tea kettle. So darn many uses. And so pretty!
Red siphon bottle, that I don't own yet.
Magic Bullet. The blender.

Your turn?