My New, Gastronomic, Hobby

I left my apartment for the first time in a couple of days this afternoon. I was conversing with a friend via text and she asked, “Why?” when I told her of my voluntary excursion into the heat and humidity. “For Panko bread crumbs,” I typed back. She didn’t respond for awhile.

Every day I wake up, stumble to my laptop, wait- get a Diet coke, stumble to my laptop, and peruse the job websites I’ve come to know so well. If there is something, I apply, if not, I finish my Diet Coke watching either Food Network or the Cooking Channel (my new love). Jobs are posted intermittently throughout the day. Some I am over qualified for, some I am nowhere near qualified for, and some… well, it has only been three weeks of job searching.

Therefore, when I am not applying to jobs, I am trying to be moderately productive (although that has been sliding recently). I have picked up my colored pencils and doodled a bit. I have finished two books. I have cleaned the apartment and re-organized my bedroom closet. I have done two loads of laundry. And I have cooked and baked. I tend to lose interest in cleaning when J comes home and it gets all messy again. And I lose interest in art when I am feeling a lack of inspiration in these apartment walls. But cooking, I HAVE to eat, so I may as well eat something decent, right? And with shows on amazing food DVR’ed I can’t just eat Pop-Tarts and be satiated.

So I’ve dug up recipes I ripped out of magazines years ago and I’ve been researching on the internet. And I will suffer in the heat of my kitchen to attempt to produce interested eats. I forayed into the world of fudge. The taste is there, but the consistency is… well… I like to eat fudge that is soft and slightly chewy (like Tremblay’s), but the stuff I produced is ridiculous. I made it on Monday and it’s been sitting in the freezer and it is still like slow-moving lava. After J and I somehow manage to eat that pan-full, I will try again… I’ve also made this really good Apricot Oatmeal Bar that I saw on Giada at Home. It has a walnut, oatmeal, brown sugar, butter crust with an apricot jam and dried apricot filling. J and I ate that up rather quickly and I plan on making more tomorrow.

As for meals, J and I have made various pastas and salads with fresh mozzarella, baked tilapia, and calzones. Tonight I am making crispy chicken cutlets (hence the Panko bread crumbs). In the future there will be herb marinated pork tenderloin, homemade fish and chips, and perhaps some scallop panchetta pasta (if the prices are not astronomical). So while I am feeling slightly down and out about not being able to produce a job, I can count on cooking a meal to get that satisfaction of producing SOMETHING worthwhile. And if any of these dishes sound good, I can send you the recipe, or you can just come visit me in Miami.

(PLEASE come visit me…. I’m rather bored and I can’t cook all day!)