no subject

[lotesse]

I'm poking around at cooking, in my own awkward way. I'm on relatively good footing with easy baked goods, but otherwise I eat a lot of disassembled raw foods and sandwiches. I like cooking, but it's also very sensory-overwhelming; meat textures can be difficult for me to handle without becoming nauseated, and there are just so many smells. I rarely want to eat food right after I've cooked, because the sensory overload is still present and I will often feel quite unwell. (the problem is that I also, again for sensory reasons, prefer highly flavorful foods within certain specific profiles. It's all a fun balance!) Skillet recipes are good; they give me a minute to sit down and recover before it's time to eat. I don't have a microwave at present; I don't know if I want to invest in one or not. Things are better heated up again in the pan, but it's also more bother and I can't be quite as absent-minded about it.

Successful recent efforts are banana bread and various cast-iron skillet chicken simmer sauce recipes. The cast-iron is comforting and familiar to me; it's what my parents cook with, albeit in their own odd vegetarian-and-fairly-flavorless way, and it feels homey. I got the Dutch oven out of the wedding-present set after the divorce, but my stovetop pans are lil 5s and 6s that I found used in Indiana, long time passing.

I think probably the mini crockpot hiding under my sink would really be my best bet, but I'm a little afraid of it. I'll work up to it. I can get squeamish and fussy with food so easily, that I have to let myself go in very small steps and be curious and exploratory, or else I'll waste a week's worth of food and live on handfuls of granola.



For book group this weekend: This Bridge Called My Back, an old friend that reminds me of my happiest times in college; with a 2014 preface by the editors that I hadn't read before.

Recommended: This long-read via the HuffPo, a beautifully-written and humanistic essay about working as a lesbian cable tech in the US.

Comments

[starshipfox]

I can relate to finding the whole process of cooking overwhelming. I've got better recently at coping with the smells etc, but there are still times when I have no motivation to eat what I've made. If only we could live on cake / baked good alone!

[chthonic_cassandra]

I very much hear your on the sensory overwhelm of cooking! For me, it actually helps to use very distinct, strong smells (spices and herbs) which I find distinctly pleasurable, rather than the more nebulous general cooking smells of oil, garlic, etc.

Curious and exploratory is such a lovely mindset with these things; it's what I work towards also.

[lotesse]

I've been trying to learn to deal with onions -- I do like them with meat, but the bodily impact of cooking them is such that I've always resisted it. It does make things taste better, though. Today I caramelized an onion but did not make the curry I'd meant to; I will tomorrow.

[chthonic_cassandra]

I know what you mean! I have been slow in taking on onion-related cooking duties in my household. But they really do contribute! Of course, I know nothing about cooking meat, but I hope the curry turns out well.

[stellar_dust]

I acquired a mini crock-pot recently. I've only used it a few times, but what I've made has turned out pretty well, without devoting too much energy into it.

It will probably take some experimentation if you're sensitive to texture, though.