Chan Can Cook

Remember this chef named Martin Yan who had a show called “Yan Can Cook” back in the day? ::crickets chirping:: Yeeeah.

An Unjust Accusation
An accusation has been brought against me more times than I can count. All right . . . it’s more of an accusation I’ve brought against myself. I can’t cook. All you guys and gals who may have spent 4-5 years grubbing on barely-safe-for-human-consumption dining hall food and/or microwaved junk and then have been thrown out into the big wide world expected to know how to cook for real can share my pain. (Especially the ladies, like we’re supposed to have this innate ability to whip stuff up in the kitchen. I mean, maybe some of y’all do, but . . . )

I'd Had It!
However, there comes a day when enough is enough. I don’t think cooking is hard, I just think I’ve been lazy. Actually, to my credit, I did learn how to make a pound cake from scratch (recipe picked up from an elderly lady who had it all in her head), and that was my claim to fame for the longest. But I had had enough of my mom bewailing the fact that I never cooked and her annoyance that I’d rather eat junk or wait around for her to make stuff, and I finally stopped telling myself that I couldn’t cook. I resolved to dispel my “can’t cook” image. This past Sunday was my chance. We had a little 5th Sunday potluck at church, and I was determined to make a masterpiece. Little bit a’ penne pasta, little bit a’ chicken, little bit a’ alfredo sauce, little bit a’ broccoli, little bit a’ finely diced tomatoes, little bit a’ parmesan cheese and voilá, a Chantellian masterpiece.

Tell me that don’t sound good. Come on, what? Say it to my face.

And the Moral of the Story Is . . .
I got the idea from that little linguini, shrimp and broccoli bowl thing they have going on at Applebee’s. I just used a different kind of pasta and chicken instead of shrimp. Lesson learned: cooking is not something you have to learn how to do. It’s something you just do. (But you gotta taste it and make sure it’s edible first.)

Spanish word/phrase of the day: ¡Cocinar es divertido! (ko-see-NAR ehs dee-ver-TEE-do) = Cooking is fun!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!