This is the first time I've cooked anything from scratch at home so I am happy with just that. I had some top sirloin that I wanted to quickly sear on a hot cast-iron pan and serve it with Botan rice and a field-green salad. I thought I'd use a prepared Thai peanut sauce on the steak. Instead I decided to degrease the pan with Marsala wine while the pan was still on pretty high heat. The result is this almost-burnt-looking sauce with probably a dose of indigestible iron to boot! Lunch was still tasty, and as I said, the occasion was still something to be happy about. I cook in bursts. Days pass and I just don't feel like lifting a finger in the kitchen, even when I know the wonderful feeling of eating fresh-cooked food. The aroma and the warmth and the fresh taste are incomparable. This is why people spend a fortune on restaurant food when they can get more for their money at a buffet. At a restaurant, the waiter rushes the food to your table hot from the chef's pan. What a luxury!
Having expressed gladness that I'm back on my culinary legs I think I might hew the line for a while. I enjoy cooking spontaneously, cooking with the instantaneous inspiration from need and memory. But cooking by someone else's recipe is another level of enjoyment, and mastery. Following a recipe is discipline. After all they are often concocted by highly talented and skilled people, more focused and trained on cooking skills and tastes than I shall ever be! So, the resolution is this: cook by the book for a few days. I want to enlarge my gustatory vocabulary.
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