ready, steady, cook!

You would think by the amount of cooking shows alone on the BBC, that the English are excellent cooks. It's inspiring to say the least, when you see people preparing full meals in half an hour, sometimes with surprise ingredients. It gets me thinking about what I can do, even if I don’t have a celebrity chef to call up when I get stuck. Or even the bare minimum of tools I am used to working with.

This apartment came equipped with a few pots and pans, a cheese grater and some knives. There is no microwave, not even a toaster (although we did run out and get a cheap toaster.) Only the top of the stove works (for now). (The stove was installed, brand new, when the last tenant moved in. But it seems as though he never actually used the stove, and it doesn’t work. They are coming to look at it on Monday, but it took ages just to get a repairman to come out). There aren’t any measuring spoons or cups, fancy garlic crushers or peelers. I have managed pretty well despite the environment, and even started trying to prepare new things, like risotto. For some reason I thought making risotto would be difficult, but it was surprisingly easy. It's amazing the variety of cooking one can do without any fancy equipment, Jamie Oliver would be proud!

Don’t get me wrong, I'm not a great cook. I merely see cooking as a necessity, as the work you have to do in order to eat. But once I get going I generally enjoy it. Sometimes though, it does feel like a chore to me. On those days no cooking show is going to get me going, it's only going to make me hungry. At least it's pretty easy to pick up a cone of fries (yes, they serve them in paper cones) or broodjes (a Dutch-style sandwich) when I'm out walking the dog.

Someone pointed me to this site about an American woman living in Holland. On it she complains about some of the foods she misses. I think it's amazing that someone can complain about missing Velveeta cheese, or even "California Cheese" in this country. (Of course I never ate Velveeta back home, ew!) There are however, some foods that I miss. Mexican food, for one thing. And American-style energy bars (Balance Bars and Cliff Bars). When I asked if they sold them at our local branch of the Naturwinkel, the guy said: "all these things in this store have energy!!" I mean, he had a point. But still, I want my energy bars! Also, they don’t put half and half in their coffee here. You can't buy it anywhere. Instead they use steamed milk (which you can't replicate at home) or evaporated milk, which doesn’t really cut it. I have adjusted however, by drinking espresso and lattes at home (I know, its so difficult adjusting! hee). I even bought myself a tiny little stovetop espresso maker.

It's just me and the dog (misha, above) for the next five days, Bill has gone off to London for a job interview. Quiet time to stay home, clean the flat, maybe see a movie or two. Ghost World just opened and Oceans Eleven is still playing here. Or maybe I will just stay in and listen to my language tapes.