Well, I’ve spent nearly two weeks by myself. I can cook meals, clean up, and manage to “work” from home. Still the biggest issue for me is transportation. I have some friends that I can rely on to take me places if I really need to go somewhere. Of course, I would prefer to go somewhere myself! Independence with activities of daily living is not as big of an issue for me for me anymore. I think efficiency is the real issue now. Walking, cooking, and cleaning take twice as long as it used to. Fatigue is an issue that I am still trying to figure out. At least I know that I can function on my own at home, but I still need to figure somethings out.
The past two weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. I recently discovered the crock pot. I have affectionately dubbed the act of crock pot cooking, “crock pottery.” I really wish I knew about this in college. It would have saved me from frequent trips to McDonald’s or Wendy’s. I have one recipe that I like… jambalaya. It is so simple. You just throw stuff in, turn it on, and at the end of the day you have a meal! Last week I thought I’d be creative and try combining stuff I like… brats and beer. Made total sense at the time because beer brats taste great! Three cans of beer +brats should be fine. Then I was thinking… fries taste good with beer brats… OK, throw some chopped up potatoes in there. Then I was thinking… fries need ketchup… OK, throw a chopped up tomato in there. Garlic Fries taste good, so maybe I should add some garlic salt. I giggled like mad scientist in a monster lab when I poured in the garlic. My mouth was watering as I was proudly dreaming of the scrumptious meal I had just created. In five “short” hours I would be able to enjoy my delightful culinary master piece! For hours, I sat in front of my computer thinking of how great of a “crock pot-head” I am! When my alarm went off! I rushed into the kitchen to behold my creation. I was shocked and repulsed by the smell emanating from my magical crock pot. It kinda smelled like a popular college bar after dollar pitcher night. No matter, my masterpiece was going to taste incredible! The brats and potatoes were cooked perfectly! I made a cup of rice to compliment my creation. The tomato slices were extremely fragile and dissolved on contact in the bubbling warm beer. Not sure I added enough garlic salt… oh well. The beer kinda grossed me out so I drained the brats and potatoes from the crock pot. I put the brats and potatoes on a bed of rice. My first bite of the brats was just what I imagined it would be. Plump and hearty with a tinge of bitterness from the beer. Then I tried the potatoes. Very warm, pungent, and bitter from soaking in beer. Kinda gross. Oh well at least the brats turned out well. Then I realized, wait… I’m all by myself and I have all this food. I know what I’ll be eating tomorrow… I’ll just put it in the fridge when it cools off. Well, I forgot to up it in the fridge and it gave my place the pleasant aroma of a dried-beer-college-bar floor. The next day when I warmed up my creation, I completely avoided the potatoes. I felt obliged to at least finish the brats. Again bad idea… the beer brats don’t hold up well when reheated. They get very bitter. For two more meals, I forced myself to finish eating those horrible brats. I won’t be doing that again.
LESSONS LEARNED:
- THERE IS A REASON BEER IS NOT USED AS A BASE IN COOKING.
- STICK TO ESTABLISHED RECIPES/PRACTICES, DON’T TRY DOING SOMETHING NEW UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE WORKING WITH.
- IF YOU GOING TO TRY SOMETHING NEW, BE PREPARED FOR THE CONSEQUENCES AND IF IT WORKS… THE GLORY (UNFORTUNATELY KITCHEN GLORY WILL NOT COME EASILY.)
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