Cooking

This week I ventured into the relatively unknown territory that is the kitchen.

It is a scary thing to know that someday soon I will be an official “grown-up” and will have to make meals for myself, so I decided the only way to start learning how to cook is to dive right in.

Step One: Choosing a Meal to cook

It seems so simple, yet it was the hardest thing to do for me.

So, I rounded up three friends and lured them away from a night out at the BLUU and asked them what they would want for a dinner. The overwhelming answer to that was “Bread! Good bread,” and “Something edible.”

Starting from those epic words of advice, I decided to turn to my iTouch. Even for the simple question of what to eat for dinner, there’s an app for that.

I let my iTouch randomly choose a type of food and I decided on chicken fettuccini alfredo, a Caesar salad, and "good" bread for my meal adventure.

Step Two: Finding a Recipe

Finally knowing what I wanted, I turned to the ever-knowing Google and typed in “chicken fettuccini alfredo.” From there, I picked the one recipe that looked the most descriptive and decided to give it a shot.

Here is the recipe I found.

Step Three: Buying Ingredients

For this step, I decided Central Market was the way to go. Some of the ingredients seemed odd to me so I decided to go to a place where you are always more likely to find an odd food item.

When I got to the store, it was basically a mess trying to find the exact things I needed. Things like “3 tomatoes” were easy enough to find, since I generally know what a tomato looks like.On the other hand, “four cloves of garlic” was a complete mystery to me. Luckily I had enlisted the help of a close friend who led me around the store like a confused child.

With his help, I paid and headed to a kitchen to get the hard work done.

Step Four: Cooking the food

Since it was my first time making something non-microwaveable, I followed the recipe like it was the Bible.

I chopped.

I sautéed.

I boiled.

I stirred until things began to look edible.

And lo and behold, a meal came out of it.

Step 5: Eating

I held my breath until my friends ate the first bites. After seeing approval, I tried it for myself.

Yum. It was so much better than anything the BLUU had to offer, and I made it myself (with some help).

Along with watching Julie and Julia (which, ironically enough, is about a woman who cooks and writes about it in her blog), break-n-bake cookies, and good company, this potential disaster turned into an adventure I am ready to repeat again.

Really, any excuse to avoid the BLUU is good in my book.

So, with two adventures under my belt, I’m ready to step it up a notch. Any suggestions will be taken into consideration, as always. Dancing lessons could be fun...

Adventure on,

Katie

Photo Shoot

On Sunday’s it’s easy to look at the calendar for the upcoming week and feel overwhelmed by the thought of having to repeat the same old routine.

To make it through another dull week, I find it’s best to have something exciting one day to look forward to. This is why I have come up with a foolproof way to ensure that another dry week doesn’t threaten to suffocate me with boredom.

My plan to skirt inevitable monotony is to try something new every week. As long as it’s an adventure, I’m going for it. As long as it’s fun and exciting, I’m up for it. As long as it doesn’t involve wearing tights as pants, I’m game.

The idea for my first adventure rose out of a situation I’m sure we all have been in at least once in the past five years.

I needed a new Facebook profile picture.

It may be taboo to say out loud, but I know we have all been there. I was tired of the same grainy pictures where I strategically cropped out a dear friend because I didn’t want visitors to my Facebook page to guess which person in the profile picture was in fact Katie McGee.

This need for a satisfactory individual picture of myself was answered when a close friend suggested we go out and take pictures. Now, I am firmly convinced that the gene that deems a person photogenic passed right over me, and I laughed at the proposition.

However, the itch for a new picture was too strong.

I found myself getting dressed up “country style” in boots and a plaid button-down and heading down to the stockyards for a photo shoot. As we got started, it was apparent to my poor photographer that I was no pro at photo shoots.

I didn’t know what to do with my hands (I felt like Ricky Bobby). I didn’t know what to do with my body. I certainly didn’t know what to do with my face. As the camera clicked away, I put my hands in the middle of my face. I shifted into awkward positions. I blinked continuously, and I scrunched and contorted my face in every direction. I fell off of things, I fell into things, and there was a point where my entire backside was covered in burrs. Painful? Yes.

But, I had fun.

In the end, that’s all that matters. I tried something new and truly enjoyed myself. I am ready for whatever is coming next week. I’m thinking I might take my hand at cooking a meal. Any suggestions? The harder the recipe, the more interesting it may be. Especially since I haven’t tried anything harder than Hot Pockets and Break ‘n Bake cookies.

And yes, I got a new profile picture out of the adventure. I actually had too many good options to choose one. My photographer conquered the impossible and I was proved very wrong.

Here is my favorite picture, and proof that anything is possible:

To see the rest of the shoot, click here.

Adventure on,

Katie