I believe if you want to cook the right meals, you have to go to the right place to get the best products at the best prices. You might be pleasantly surprised to find out that the Far East, Spanish or Middle Eastern Grocer will go out of his or her way to help you in trying to find the products you are looking for and even help you with products that you did not know you were needed.
Once you move away from purchase at corporate owned big box stores and move back to doing some of your shopping from locally owned, and in many cases operated by the store owners, you will find helpful courteous people that are more than happy to help and welcome you to their culture.
You will find the best prices, and the best products for cooking needs. An example of this is Pita Bread. Do you think that Middle Eastern cooks go to a big box store to pay $1.00 a piece for a 6" Pita Bread. Find your closest Middle Eastern store and you can get a pack of 10, the size of a dinner plate for about 3 or 4 dollars.
I will go more into many aspects of grocery shopping later, but for now I have found one thing to be true when it comes to shopping for foreign groceries, "The Fewer the Words in English, the Better." Unless of course you are looking for Clotted Cream or the items needed to make Scones.
"Live to Eat, Don't Eat to Live"
Monday, August 13, 2012
How I Got Here.
With me it began long before marriage, and has continued to this day. This has included registering for all kitchen supplies when we got married, and making all of the baby food that both of my teenage boys ate up to 8 months old.
From a very young age, I was always very interested in cooking. I guess it started with all the time that I spent with my grandmother (father's mother), who was a great cook. My mother spent most of her time with my father running a family business. She was not a great cook when I was younger. Fortunately, she became one as I got older (out of college) for my father's sake.
As a young child, my mother's mother did all of the lunch cooking so my mother was only responsible for the evening meals. Our business was located right next door to their home, and just up the street from ours. My mother's family owned the business which my mother worked in from a young age. She was not around my grandmother to learn how to cook.
Over time, I have managed to accumulate many of my grandmother's recipes and many of her pots and bowls. Many of my family members have tried to duplicate her recipes, however they have failed. She died 28 years ago, so it is difficult for them to ask her what she meant when someone asked her about a certain details of a recipe, and she told them it depended on the weather.
I have not mastered any particular cuisine, but are familiar with Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, and have moved on the "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Being from Southern Louisiana, many of the basic tasks of french cooking are the same as our regional basic recipes.
I do believe that men and women approach cooking differently. Many of the recipes that I have put together, or adapted from others all point to one basic thing, "Just Because You Can Buy It In A Store, Doesn't Mean That You Should." I do most things from scratch in pretty large batches, and freeze for ease later.
I hope some on you find somethings that I post useful. "If you do not care what you are cooking, everyone will taste it."
"Live to Eat. Don't Eat to Live."
From a very young age, I was always very interested in cooking. I guess it started with all the time that I spent with my grandmother (father's mother), who was a great cook. My mother spent most of her time with my father running a family business. She was not a great cook when I was younger. Fortunately, she became one as I got older (out of college) for my father's sake.
As a young child, my mother's mother did all of the lunch cooking so my mother was only responsible for the evening meals. Our business was located right next door to their home, and just up the street from ours. My mother's family owned the business which my mother worked in from a young age. She was not around my grandmother to learn how to cook.
Over time, I have managed to accumulate many of my grandmother's recipes and many of her pots and bowls. Many of my family members have tried to duplicate her recipes, however they have failed. She died 28 years ago, so it is difficult for them to ask her what she meant when someone asked her about a certain details of a recipe, and she told them it depended on the weather.
I have not mastered any particular cuisine, but are familiar with Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, and have moved on the "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Being from Southern Louisiana, many of the basic tasks of french cooking are the same as our regional basic recipes.
I do believe that men and women approach cooking differently. Many of the recipes that I have put together, or adapted from others all point to one basic thing, "Just Because You Can Buy It In A Store, Doesn't Mean That You Should." I do most things from scratch in pretty large batches, and freeze for ease later.
I hope some on you find somethings that I post useful. "If you do not care what you are cooking, everyone will taste it."
"Live to Eat. Don't Eat to Live."
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