First 24 Hours in Macerata

Buongiorno tutti! Come sta? Adesso, sono in Macerata. Sono stanca e non sono caldo, perche e piove. Mi non piace piove. Alora, I am staying inside today. I know, I know. Not my idea of a good time, but it is cold and rainy out. Can you believe I left Connecticut for this? For the rain? Granted, I will still take the rain over the yucky New England snow any day.

Anyways, that rules out many of my plans. I for one, am not heading out into this weather. No way. I think I’ll keep it in, and read, and write, and sleep and get myself a little bit more settled. I’m not really sure what to expect right now. All I know is that I am freezing. Si, io ho freddo. Non mi piace. Mi dispiace.

I am meeting with the director of the school in a little bit. Hopefully I can get my class schedule and all that jazz. It would be nice to have that so that I can plan out my days and my week, and know when I will be where.

Since I am staying at the school during the week, but with a host family on the weekends, I am going to have to call the host family sometime today and work out arrangements. It will be nice. I can see another area of the lovely city. Well, I’m assuming it’s lovely. I can’t really tell, what with it raining and me being unwilling to explore in the rain. I think I’ll take a nap later. I am exhausted. Exhausted & missing my boyfriend.

Anyways, I met one lady today, who primarily speaks Italian, and man listening to her speak and trying to keep with her was a challenge in and of itself. My mind does not work that quickly. It’s that really awkward moment when you are completely lost in conversation, so all that you can think of to do is to just smile and nod. Do you ever have those moments? It’s a whole new world for me out here, and I am struggling to immerse myself.

Temporary Cancellation

Hello all!

Once again, it has been quite some time since I have posted to this blog, The Broke Person’s Guide to College Cooking. I miss it, but the blog has turned out to be something far different than I had imagined.

As a result, I have decided to temporarily pursue different options, as I prepare to launch a brand new blog around Food Porn. Yes, I am a major foodie. I do enjoy going to all sorts and types of Food Festivals.

Once that blog is complete and up and running, I will post the link here for anybody that chooses to visit.

It is a challenge to maintain multiple blogs, so I will not be posting to this one for a while.

Thank you for visiting and we will see each other soon.

Drunken Noodles “My Virgin” Version

So, I decided to make my own version of drunken noodles; the nice and quick version. I have this unrealistic addiction and obsession with the Thai dish.

Ingredients:

1)Rice noodles

2) Kale

3) Shrimp

4) Cherry tomatoes

5) Soy sauce

6) Garlic Terriayki sauce

7) Onions

8) 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced

9) Salt & Pepper to taste

10) 4 tbsp. of butter

Directions:

1) Empty packet of noodles into a large bowl

2) Boil kettle of hot water on the stove

3) Pour boiling water over noodles and let sit for 25-30 minutes

4) Meanwhile, mince garlic cloves and onions

5) Slice tomatoes and chop kale thinly

6) Devein shrimp

7) Pour butter in frying pan

8) Add minced garlic until it starts to brown slightly and then toss in onions

9) Add the shrimp and cook and mix until shrimp turns pink in color

10) Toss in kale and tomatoes and mix, coating in garlic, onion and butter mixture

11) Pour in liberally, soy sauce and teriyaki sauce

12) Drain the water from noodles

13) Toss in noodles, into the shrimp and vegetable mixture

14) Coat noodles evenly

15) Serve over rice

 

Preparation time: 20-40 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Coconut Custard Pie

Coconut Custard Pie! Doubly yum yum here. Now, I will be honest, I did not not make the crust for this lovely the dessert. Rather, I picked it up at the grocery store. It is a nilla wafer crust–can’t go wrong there.

I don’t think I have ever tried a coconut custard pie before now. I am not a huge pie person, but this has quickly become one of my favorites.

There are very few ingredients, and the majority of this pie is made in the oven, while you just wait. The primary ingredients are:

1) Eggs

2) Milk

3) Pinch of salt

4) Vanilla extract

5) And of course, coconut (that is the best part)

In the oven, the dish takes 45-50 minutes to bake until it becomes this golden brown color. It has all the makings of a delicate and creamy custard in pie form.

 

Next time, I will make the crust from scratch.

My Ideal Job, Risk Taking and Poached Pear Making

Life is too damn short. TOO DAMN SHORT. And lately, it seems as if my life is flashing before my eyes on a large projector screen as I watch idly, instant replays. I’m helpless and can’t do much to change anything right now. I watch as I am haunted by regrets in slow motion.

I’m not a professional dancer. I have never appeared on So You Think You Can Dance. I never made it as a figure-skater, or into the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. I’m not a teacher, I haven’t changed the world, I don’t own my own business, I am not famous and I am still single. Now does that sound like the type of life that you would want to lead? It’s certainly not the kind of life that I want to lead. I mean, if I were to die tomorrow, I would not be happy knowing that I have failed, I am not financially dependent and I have failed my parents.

 

So what is it then? There is something about failure and taking risks that has me so unbelievable paralyzed. Each day, each breath is like another struggle.

I made poached pears for the first time, in a vanilla sugar water. It was magical. Poached pears are God’s gift to this Earth. They are so  delicate, like walking on air.

Making poached fruit does not take long at all. A couple minutes of your time. Most of the work is done while the fruit is seeped in water.

Who said you can’t buy happiness? This is exactly what it looks like.

At this point, I really can’t believe how many posts I must have done on scallops. Again, I will have to reiterate that they are relatively quick to cook, especially when you are short on time. I even tossed the shrimp on some steamed kale and tossed the scallops on some leftover potatoes. Some would say that it is heaven on Earth. Heaven on Earth. Now that is a good place to be.

This whole meal can be made in less than an hour.

The Ten Minute Kitchen: Coconut Shrimp

This was my first attempt at making coconut shrimp. And I have no regrets. It did not come out as well as it could have, but it was still pretty tasty. The recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make, and is great if you are crunched for time. Of course, the marinade that the shrimp where done in prior to being placed in the oven with coconut was to die for.

 

I love shrimp and seafood, if by this post that is not immediately clear. I can’t, however, take credit for this recipe as it is courtesy of BrokeAss Gourmet. I love food blogs such as that. The whole time I was making the shrimp, I was sipping on Guinness. Guinness is not really one of my favorite beers. I would not choose it over Bud Light or an ice cold Corona at a party. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the Irish; I just don’t share their taste in alcohol.

Guiness Mac & Cheese

Here I am again. Here we are. As always, I want to bitch and complain. We all know about what at this point. But I’m not going to do that. I am not going to complain about all the things that I have done wrong with my life and where I thought I would be at this age. I am not going to wallow in self-pitty and sit around on my but feeling sorry for myself, dreaming of what could be and wondering if I will be doomed to be one of those twenty somethings, financially unstable who will never be able to afford retirement? Is that what it comes down to? Besides, I really want to have kids one day, if I could ever afford them. But, up until this point, my biggest fear is running into my ex-boyfriend, his new wife and his three kids, because that should have been our life.

Anyways, I still like to stick with what I am good at. I am a young and hungry twentysomething. The place that I feel most comfortable, and have always felt most at home is in the kitchen. I don’t understand what it is about risks, but why am I so afraid of taking them? That should not be the case.

Anyways, being a broke twenty something, especially in this day and age, and in this economy, we all need cheap and affordable meals to cook. Now, I may not be a world renowned recipe developer, at least not yet; but I know good taste when I come across it.

It is my personal belief that putting liquor in something; putting liquor in anything, automatically makes it taste great. I swear by that rule. And this mac and cheese has beer in it, so it is destined to give you the ultimate high. The ultimate high. It is creamy and tasty and well textured. I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong, especially considering that most of the ingredients should already be in your pantry.

The ingredients are primarily:

1) Elbow macoroni

2) Flour

3) Onions

4) Garlic

5) Cheese (Preferably of your choice, although I prefer to go with Parmesan or sharp cheddar)

6) Salt & Pepper to taste

Kitchen Laboratory: Experimentation

I have so many arbitrary thoughts scattered about and jumbled in my head right now, that I wouldn’t have a clue where to begin. For instance, my love of candles, where did that come from? I just blew out a candle on my night stand, and now my room smells of Fall and Campfires. AWESOME!! (Even though I have never gone camping before).

I also confess that Chelsea Handler’s book, My Horizontal Life is now my new guilty guilty pleasure.  

That being said, now that that is all out there, I don’t have too many kitchen mishaps, and I wish that I could keep it that way. However, that’s not necessarily the case. Ever since returning from New Orleans, I have been obsessed with the history, the culture and lo and behold, the FOOD. So, I decided that I was going to make blackened catfish. That’s right. BLACKENED CATFISH.

I did not, however, attempt this outside. I probably should have. Now I know why they call it blackened. And I think it would have been best if I had done it on the grill in the outdoors in order to reduce the amount of smoke and fumes that I was breathing in. I thought I was going to choke with the smell of the catfish and whatever else I had been breathing in.

I ended up having to turn the fan on and open windows as the catfish cooked. 

 

Fast forward about ten minutes and the catfish was cooked well done, well, most of it anyways. I’m not entirely sure if there is a type of sauce that should be served with blackened anything.

Kitchen Laboratory: The Omelette Factory

 

As I sit here typing this, I am watching a cooking show in Italian as I try to learn the foreign language. I’ve learned over the years that motivation comes in short bursts and that I need to strike while it’s hot. It’s a good thing then, that I am always motivated by food. It’s color, it’s smell, everything holy. There is a reason that they call it culinary arts.

 

No, I did not burn myself or get slapped by hot oil or butter in the process of making these eggs.

One thing that you will learn about me very quickly is my love of eggs; all kind of eggs: scrambled, over easy, over hard, fried, I love them all. This was the first time in a long time in which I was able to make eggs, and not have them stick to the bottom of the frying pan, thus coming out half-heartedly as I used the jaws of life to scrape the nitty gritty pieces from the bottom of that frying pan.

An Omelette is perfect for any college student, no matter how broke you are. And the best part of Omelettes, Fritattas, and Strattas is that you can put absolutely anything you want in there. Heck, you can put everything you want in it.

My basic ingredients for Omelette making and omelette experimenting include general items commonly found in the pantry: salt, pepper and paprika, as well as these items that I like to add for my own taste:

-Peppers

-Onions

-Meat (your choice, but I’m particularly fond of bacon)

-Cheese

And those are just the basics, but you can toss whatever else, whatever leftovers are hanging around your refrigerator in.