Tag Archives: cooking

Cooking, Free time, Instagram

Feeling homely! I’ve cooked.

Posted on by cre-cre

It’s been a productive Monday. I’ve cleaned, washed, did laundry and one thing that I am very proud of, I’ve cooked.

Yup, I’ve become a housewife.

I am happy about the cooking part because I’ve cooked good food for me and John but also for Pluto and Marlanu’.Yes, I’ve cooked for our pets as well.

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I’ve made homemade bread (using the bread maker my parents left behind), potatoes with chicken breast, cream and cheese. And for the pets I’ve made grits with chicken liver, hearts and gizzard (a recipe from a friend who used to be a dog trainer). Of course, I’ve only given the meat to the cat, since I don’t think the grits would do him any good.

I am not bragging or anything, but I am happy it all turned out good. After all, it is a rare sight to see Johnny eat the food I make. I am also happy that my parents are not into technology and that they left behind a lot of useful things, like the bread maker.

It’s a small loaf of bread but it turned out really good. And we know exactly what went into making it so we don’t have to worry about the quality.

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For the main course, I’ve looked up recipes on LaLena.ro I like this website a lot, the fact that it is in Romanian is an advantage. It has a lot of easy to make recipes. This is the recipe for today and here is the result:

cooked chicken
I’ve cooked chicken.

I’ve made enough for 2 people. I didn’t made more since I know from experience that we throw away all the leftovers. We’ve been throwing a lot of food and that’s pretty wasteful behavior on our part.

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Over all, it was a good start to the week

Free time

Cooking 101: Pork Stew with Green Peas

Posted on by cre-cre

After eating pizza, fries with any type of meat and just junk food in general we’ve decided it’s time for us to cook. Better said, it’s time for me to cook. After all, I’m the one that has nothing to do all day long.

So, I cooked my first real meal (after that soup I’ve made a few months ago). I’ve made pork stew with green peas. I’ve found a recipe that was actually with beef. Now, I didn’t have beef and since we decided not to waste food anymore I used pork instead.

It was so easy to make and fun as well. For start to end, it took almost an hour (with photo breaks as well). I only need pork meat, 1 onion, 1 carrot, tomato sauce, frozen green peas, salt and pepper.

I didn’t measure the quantity of each ingredient, but mostly added as much as I thought the two of us would eat. My goal was to make something we could eat for a day. If we don’t finish the food in one day, we’re not gonna eat it the second day.

It went like this:

1. I heated the oil and added the meat. The meat was cut in small pieces. I fried the meat till it turned a little brown.

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2. I added the onion and the carrot (which were also sliced in small pieces).

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3. After 5 minutes, I added 2 spoons of tomato sauce (the original recipe said 1 spoon, but I like the home made tomato sauce my mom makes).

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4. After another 5 minutes, I added the frozen peas. I’ve waited for them to defrost. Then I added enough water to cover the content.

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5. The original recipe said to wait about an hour for it to be done. I’ve only had to wait 30 minutes since the quantity was smaller then what it said on the website. I’ve stirred the content every 5-10 minutes, added salt and pepper almost at the end.

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 It turned out good. And if I had to rate my attempt, I would give myself a 8 out of 10. I dropped a little bit too much pepper and I could feel it when eating.

I’m actually proud I made something decent that is not fried. I’m also doing some research for easy recipes that Johnny would eat as well. And that’s not an easy task considering he doesn’t eat a lot of things.

Cooking, Free time, Hobbies

It’s official!

Posted on by cre-cre

I don’t even know how to start this post. I think I should be happy, but I can’t seem to feel a little uneasy as well. It might be from the weather (we’re in June and it’s still cold and gloomy) or from being tired (I work on the night shift now).

I just quit my job. I have one more month at work (last day of work is on the 22nd of July). I did promise myself that I will not work longer than 2 years in customer service, and I should be proud for keeping that promise. But, I will miss my co-workers/friends and it feels I will not find people like them anywhere else.

It’s funny because at the first job I had, I loved what I was doing by not the people that I’ve worked with. And now, I love the people I work with but I hate the job. I should make a new promise to myself to not lose touch with my friends.

And there’s more..

We (me and Johnny) are officially living alone. Yup, just the two of us and Marlanu’.

I can honestly say I haven’t had a cooked meal in almost 2 weeks. That’s my only complaint. Not only that I don’t have time (because of the night shift), but I never actually cooked meal that involved more than potatoes and meat. So, at the moment I’m on Google looking for easy and quick recipes, like chicken soup. I also have to find recipes that Johnny would eat. After all, he’s a fussy eater while I could eat anything.

There is also the cleaning (which I love!), shopping (groceries and things needed in the house), making sure all is paid on time and the usual stuff that involves keeping up an household.

I think this is a milestone for me.

~~~~ An update on the chicken soup ~~~~

chicken soup

It’s done! It tastes good. I have FOOD!!!

News

Cook book

Posted on by cre-cre

I’m amazed how many things you can find at a normal news paper stand, and I say that in a good way.

I’ve bought a cook book, well it’s more of a pamphlet with 55 recipes with meat. I’m not a fan of cooking but this book makes things quite clear and easy to understand. The recipes aren’t that complicated and don’t use ingredients that are hard to find.

At first I bought it for mother since she buys this kind of things, but I realised she doesn’t need it, cause she’s already a good cook. So I kept it for myself for the times when my parents will be at the country side and I’ll be all alone home. I know this might sound crazy, but after a while I don’t fell like eating fries anymore.

News

I think I’m getting better at cooking

Posted on by cre-cre

I was in a weird mood yesterday. All of a sudden I felt the need to clean my room, it was like I was rebelling against my lazy self. Is that normal?

After I cleaned the room, I was hungry. I called my brother, asked him if he wanted spaghetti, mashed potatoes with fried meat or a mix of both. He said he was fine with whatever I was having. When did we started to get along so well? I don’t know. But this week has been really peaceful at home. I know it’s because my father isn’t home, he’s been away for the entire week, and I hope he won’t come back anytime soon. Am I being mean? Nope, I just like being alone from time to time.

Okay so I made spaghetti napoletane. I think that’s how they are called. I bought them from the shop, but I think they’re just to plain, so I added some meat and some onion. The result was really delicious, and after two full plates, I was thinking if I should stop eating and leave some for brother. I wasn’t hungry anymore, but I haven’t had spaghetti in a long time and they were really good, the sauce had the perfect texture and it wasn’t too sweet nor two spicy (even if I dropped a bit too much pepper in it). I was even wearing the apron.

I don’t know if mother cooked something today, but I think I’ll pass on the cooking today, if possible. I am sure I’ll have another peaceful day, hopefully with father not home. I don’t know what Johnny has in mind, but he won’t come to my place. I even tried to blackmail him with good food, wine and the prospect of watching a movie tonight. He won’t budge. That meanie. Oh well I might re-consider inviting him over tomorrow at my place. He can stay home and sleep with his cat. Wait I want to sleep with Suzi, cause she’s so cute when she purrs. I am seriously thinking and plotting to steal Johnny’s cat. But I am also aware that if I do that, then my hamster won’t have a long life like I promised him he would.

Oh well, 45 more minutes and I’m heading home. Lucky me.

News

Cooking

Posted on by cre-cre

I’m very much like a pregnant women: when I crave for something I must have it otherwise I get cranky. And yesterday I was craving for pasta’s. So, I ended up cooking at Johnny’s place, in his mother’s kitchen, with her right besides me.

I have my own way of cooking and I usually like to add wine in the sauce because it gives it a really good taste (well that depends on the wine as well).  I don’t like using things (well related to cooking) that usually come in a plastic or paper bag. I like to use fresh ingredients if posible. And I like things done my way, like everyone does.

So at a certain point I was covering the pan with my arms so I could stop my “mother in law” from adding certain things in it. I finally convinced her from not adding them by asking “Why? Isn’t the sauce good like it is right now?”.

It’s hard cooking in someone else kitchen, especially when they are present. And I am not a big fan of cooking in the first place, but this time was better. The last time I cooked at Johnny’s place, I ended up adding vinegar instead of cooking oil, but the bottles were identical.

Oh well, it could always get much worse.