Sorry about the brief disappearance. I took a quick trip to NYC to visit a friend. It's my last week now in Boston - I leave for SF on Saturday. Anyway, here are a few updates from the food blogosphere... Meg over at IHEARTBACON is hosting Does My Blog Look Good in This? for the month. It's a photo contest that accepts submissions from all kinds of different food blogs. Meg kindly asked me to help judge this month, which may have been a mistake since I don't really know what I'm talking about! :) Anyway, the results should be up soon, so keep an eye out over there. Fatemeh over at Gastronomie tagged me with this Cook Next Door meme, so here goes. I apologize in advance for my lack of insight on all things cooking, especially compared to my food blogging peers.
What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
I don't cook much at all, so I don't really have any first memory of cooking. If anything it'd be making frozen tater tots. Or something else frozen.
Who had the most influence on your cooking?
Again, this doesn't apply much to me, but I guess I'd say Dominga, my babysitter growing up. She's a gifted chef, and I wouldn't hesitate a second to claim that she makes some of the best Chinese food in the SF bay.
Do you have an old photo as 'evidence' of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
I might, but certainly not on the computer. I don't have access to any of the old photos from my childhood right now, but I'm sure there are some of me at dinners around the world.
Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
For some reason, I can't imagine myself ever succesfully making any type of pastry... or I guess dessert in general. It just looks so hard.
What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest let down?
My most valued kitchen gadget is without a doubt my rice cooker. It's a wonderful little machine, and I'm always surprised by the number of people who still try to cook rice manually in a pot. An honorable mention would have to be the Hot Diggity Dogger - that hot dog toaster thing that you always see in the SkyMall catalogs on the plane. My friend Lauren actually bought me one, and believe it or not the thing makes some great hot dogs.
Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else!
Back home, my mom used to sometimes pick up various pâtés from the deli. During late-night fridge raids, some pâté with toast is an awesome snack. Many times in the past, I've discovered that we'd ran out of bread during this raids. One time I got desperate and tried using an Eggo - turns out pâté on Eggos tastes great. This also works well with foie gras.
What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don't want to live without?
Sushi. Fresh pasta. I guess... butter! Any question you missed in this meme, that you would have loved to answer? Well then, feel free to add one!
Your favorite ice-cream...
I'm a purist. I like straight up chocolate. And I mean plain chocolate (as in, not dark or white or something else notable).
You will probably never eat...
Lamb testicles (dombalan, in Farsi). This is leftover from Fatemeh's answer - I'll just throw in that I'm not too eager to try testicles of any kind.
Your own signature dish...
I don't have one. Corned beef with rice? I stole that from Keith.
A common ingredient you just can't bring yourself to stomach...
Most definitely ketchup. I HATE KETCHUP.
Which one culture's food would you most like to sample on its home turf? (Added by Fatemeh)...
Wow - too many to list here, but I'll go with Thai. I'm gonna send this over to Keiko at Nordljus. Unlike me, she can actually cook!