Meta-Meata

What foods would you like to make?

Sometimes I approach these prompts from a 3rd-person perspective, using them merely as a jumping-point for my blog entry. Other times, I feel the need to go meta and comment on the prompt before diving in. Today is the latter, when I have to ask, “Do you mean ‘make’ as in ‘cook’?” Otherwise I have to assume god-like or scientist-like powers to create edible things.

Feel free to comment on whether you prefer the 3rd-person “ignore the prompt” approach or the “comment on the prompt”approach.

In any case, I have been cooking and making meals for years, and there’s not a lot that I want to make that I haven’t tried. Not that I’ve always been successful. My attempts at Indian foods had mixed success and my naan was non-naan. (Not naan?) I tend to fall back on the dishes that I’m good at—stir-fried meat and veggies, Mexican foods such as burritos and tacos, and Italian dishes, like spaghetti and lasagna.

Anytime someone suggests baking, I demur. I can make bread if I throw everything into a bread maker and hit “On.” Once I attempted gingerbread men, but I got the ratios wrong when I tried to double the recipe and wound up with gingerbread amoebas instead. Another time my attempt to make biscuits resulted in Ritz crackers; who knew there was a difference between baking powder and baking soda? (I do now.)

I also tried icing a cake once using the squeeze pouch with special decorative tips. Whoops! Dropped it into the cake like a bomb from a plane. There was a lot of icing in that spot, trying to patch the hole.

I just remembered two other dishes. I found a recipe for Moroccan Chicken, and decided that was a good meal to announce the arrival of Spring. (I think because it’s a bit labor intensive and I needed to be finished with school.) I also tried homemade enchiladas once, using canned sauce. That night, lying in bed, I was convinced I was having a heart attack. Then I belched, and realized it was just the worst heartburn ever. Since that time I only eat restaurant enchiladas.

Over the years I’d say I’ve had more successes than failures, but that’s mainly due to lack of ambition. When I want to try an exotic dish, I find a restaurant that serves it, and order it there.

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