“This is every cook’s opinion –
no savory dish without an onion,
but lest your kissing should be spoiled your onions must be fully boiled.”
-Jonathan Swift
Everyone has different experiences that make them realize they’re officially old… For some it’s getting married, or having a baby, or getting into a graduate program (which I also just did *toot toot* <– my horn); for me, it was when I started having to Google the abbreviations that everyone was using on social media.
So… It’s been nearly 8 months since I posted a recipe. I’m pretty sure I know this is an UNPRECEDENTED hiatus from Life Should Taste Good, but in my defense… I just didn’t feel like writing.
“The food so nice they named it twice!”
-Dale Denton, Pineapple Express
Post-Oklacoma, post-Nick redeploying, post-moving into my 6th new residence in less than three years, I had kinda lost my cooking mojo. What made me take pen to paper again, you may ask? Tuesday-night-Chardonnay number two. I wish it was more profound than that #imlying #ilovewine.
“Chili is much improved by having had a bad day to contemplate its fate.”
-John Steele Gordon
The beautiful thing about chili is that it’s so customizable and quick to put together. The problem with chili is that I tend to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, so when it comes out amazing I never quite remember what I did! This recipe, while fairly simple, is sooo good and easy to make for a cold winter night.
…Just two words of warning: man farts.
Since moving (yet again) to a new apartment, I’ve spent most of my time lurking on Pinterest and using the things that said lurking has uncovered, to get craft-y and make some *pretty amazing* decorations… I’ve also opted to not get cable in the new place. I told myself I’d really start reading again, I’d expand my mind and sharpen my intellect.
“Give me a good sharp knife and a good sharp cheese and I’m a happy man.”
-George R.R. Martin
What has happened thus far is the discovery that I can watch the same movies an infinite number of times without getting sick of them. I have yet to decide what that says about me.
“Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches. Stones were formed to be quarried and to build castles; and My Lord has a very noble castle; the greatest Baron in the province should have the best house; and as pigs were made to be eaten, we eat pork all year round; consequently, those who have asserted all is well talk nonsense; they ought to have said that all is for the best.”
-Voltaire, Candide
Stuffed Pork Chops with Apples, Bacon and Smoked Gouda with a Honey, Rosemary and Sweet Onion Applesauce
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_ _ I was always the “good kid” in high school– I never attended a party until my senior year and even then I was usually the DD (ahh the life of a minivan driver). I didn’t imbibe, rarely broke curfew and was WAY too terrified to even attempt something as illicit as shoplifting… Any aura of “coolness” I may have accrued despite authoring a food blog, has officially been destroyed with these admissions but c’est la vie (“la vie” har har). Despite having absolutely no penchant for illegal activities, I have always had an intense fascination with criminal shows, from Law and Order in its many forms, to CSI and Criminal Minds.
_ _ One night during my freshman year of college, I had returned to Ithaca on a holiday break, and because my friend’s parents were sick of having us in the house, we scandalously went to hang out in a local park after-hours. When a cop car cruised by, everyone panicked and dashed for the woods– two boys ran the 4 miles to the other side of the forest before taking a wide loop back around; one girl stopped about 5 feet into the trees, realized we were being ridiculous and strolled back to the car to wait for the rest of us; and one other girl and I crouched low to the ground several yards in and I made her close her eyes with me, convinced that if the police were looking for us they would see the light reflecting off our eyeballs… really, Anna? In retrospect, we all should have recognized that loitering wasn’t exactly going to get us arrested, but the mass mentality of fear lead us all to act absurdly… and I learned that I had been taking in more lessons from those TV shows than I realized– it’s the smallest details that get people caught!
_ _ Perhaps because of this mind set, I don’t like using recipes from other people without giving due credit– it’s intellectual thievery! So it’s all that much more exciting to me when I make food sans recipe and it turns out amazing: I give you, stuffed pork chops with a savory applesauce paired with a light salad.
This is every cook’s opinion –
no savory dish without an onion,
but lest your kissing should be spoiled
your onions must be fully boiled.
-Jonathan Swift
French Onion Soup with Sourdough Crouton and Gruyere Cheese
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_ _ It’s the small victories that make me the happiest– perhaps because not many “big” victories have come my way– but I choose to think that I simply appreciate the subtleties in life. For example, I spent 10 minutes this afternoon trying to pry the cap off my lipgloss, finally resorting to using the knife on a wine screw, and I rejoiced riotously (ok, with a silent fist pump… I was at work and I don’t want to talk about why I have a wine screw in my purse) when it finally came flying off. I celebrate when a person trying to pass in the right lane gets cut off and has to drop back; I’m delighted when the song I want to illegally download is on Limewire and doesn’t turn out to be an automated recording reprimanding me for pirating music; and I’m on cloud nine when a recipe that I try ends up being a delicious meal. I give you: slow cooker french onion soup!
LIFE SHOULD TASTE GOOD... cooking for an army of two 