Food: Educational and Fun!

Once I got into college and didn't have a good kitchen accessible to me, I conveniently got into cooking and baking. I dabbled in it a little in high school; baking a few cookies around Christmas, and having cooking get-togethers with friends but nothing to serious. I don't know what hit me, but all of a suddenly the world of food and cooking fascinated me (to everyone in my life's advantage). I would cook every time I came home from living in the dorms at Buffalo State College. I've baked Christmas cookies every year when I came home for winter break. I cook with friends here in Buffalo and I'm upset when I go a few nights without being able to cook something in depth for myself.

Along with my new love for cooking, I discovered the wonder of the Food Network. I can watch this channel for hours and never get bored. I learned a decent amount from watching this channel, and I like sharing my knowledge with others that I gained from watching TV. This channel made me want to cook and try new things. From this discovery came a new obsession: Alton Brown and Good Eats.

This man is my idol. He knows all there is to know about any type of food. He doesn't just explain how to cook something, he explains the science behind both the food and the cooking process. He's funny (in a cheesy kind of way) and he's more informative than any other chef I've seen on the Food Network. If I was better with the concept of science, Alton Brown would have swayed me into studying food science.

I literally get excited when I see that Good Eats is coming on TV. I make time to watch that show when I know it's coming on in the near future. I wish I could follow him around for a year and learn everything I can learn about food, cooking, and baking from him. I own one of his books (thanks to Benjamin) and I plan on buying all of them when I can afford it. The book I have explains different ways to cook things (grilling, poaching, baking, etc) and gives several recipes to try. I want to poach a chicken in the near future.

Along with Bruce Coville, this is another man I'd love to meet. He keeps me interested in all the food that is available to me. His influence is probably why I love to go food shopping and can probably spend a good two hours in Wegmans picking out what to get for myself. I will always follow Alton Brown through his career until he retires.

On a food note, I need to go to Aldi's and pick up some essentials for baking. I already have baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla extract. I need to buy flour, sugar, brown sugar, shortening, and confectioners sugar. I have several baking goals for this winter:

-A good apple pie,

-Experimenting with yeast, mmmm real bread

-Rainbow cookie cake

-Something with lemon in it

-coconut cream pie

-the perfect chocolate chip cookie

-meringues, of course

I need to get the oven going....