Over the summer, there were many people who visited (and cooked in) our wonderful kitchen in Palo Alto. One guest was a fantastic cook and put together a raw corn salad which was absolutely delicious. I wasn’t quite sure what he used, so I decided to make my own version and add some scallops too. I will admit that this recipe is slightly (and by slightly I mean very) out of season…sorry for the delay in posting.
Sloan has this fantastic thing called SIP week each semester. During this week there are no regularly scheduled classes and instead we take 2.0 credits (about 12 hours) of seminars. I’m not going to lie, the seminars are usually hit or miss. This semester I was about 50% on the hit rate, so not that bad.
The best part: there are no classes. This of course meant that I flew off to Portugal with 13 of my nearest and dearest directly after my Tuesday seminar finished. Yep, it was awesome. I’ll put up some pictures on my other site eventually (there was scratch on my filter, so I have to go in and edit the stupid dot on all my pictures), but in the meantime, let’s discuss the food. Or rather, let’s just look at it.
I have a dark secret.
It usually involves cooking.
And dancing.
And the Mamma Mia Soundtrack.
Some people grew up watching sitcoms with their families. I grew up watching cooking shows on public television. Long before Rachael, Giada, Emeril and Paula had taken over our homes with the Food Network, there were the Jacques; Pepin and Torres (of course Julia was prior to them, but I wasn’t alive when her first show was on tv) I would watch with my family in awe at they created masterpieces (a chocolate oven..really?!).
Another show that has garnered great praise in my family is America’s Test Kitchen. It is fantastic. (I also highly recommend their cookbook). For those unfamiliar with ATK, they do more than just cook. They test and they explain. For example, in the following recipe, the butter is melted. They explained this created a chewier cookie than creaming the butter and then showed the crispy creamed butter cookie. The cook books also provide information such as the preferred brand of peanut butter to use in cookies. It removes a lot of the guesswork and adds some science. I love it. I’m such a nerd.
I’ve moved. Again. The kitchen in the new place is, well…um, cozy.
Cooking this year will be interesting. It is not the best kitchen I’ve had. Actually, it’s the smallest and has the worst appliances. And yet, I love it. I’m living alone for the first time ever and the entire kitchen is MINE. I organized the cabinets and fridge the way I want. If it’s my desires to make french toast at 3 am, I can. Plus, I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving the dishes in the sink until the morning. It’s pure bliss.
Then I thought about all of my apartment kitchens and how they have changed over the years. Some were better than others but I’ve managed with all of them, and this year will be no different. And with that, I bring you: CoSkay’s Kitchen’s throughout the years:
