Thursday, December 23, 2010

Julie & Julia and Karina

The other night I watched "Julie & Julia" for the first time.
Julie & Julia Poster
I loved the movie, it was sweet, and funny, and a joy to watch. I enjoyed Amy Adams and Meryl Streep immensely in their roles (of Julie Powell and Julia Child respectively), and perhaps even more so, enjoyed Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci as their husbands. The story (a true story) was cute, and it was just an all around feel good movie that I am so glad I finally watched.

But this is not a movie review. (Even though I think you should definitely check it out if you haven't already).

No, this post is about me. Or more specifically about the fact that I simply do not cook.

I can cook. Whenever I decide to whip something up, I can pretty much go for it, and feel secure in the knowledge that it will come out tasting pretty great.

I thank my mother for this. I've inherited her ability to just "create" in the kitchen. I can throw a bunch of random ingredients together, without recipe and measuring spoons, and make an honest to goodness meal out of them.

That being said, I don't cook. Not often anyway.

I live alone, and let's be honest, the inspiration of cooking for one isn't really all that great. Plus, I live a pretty busy, hectic life, so the truth is, I'm not home to eat dinner most nights, and on the nights I am, I want something quick and easy. Not some elaborate meal.

Unfortunately, what that means is that most nights, I end up cooking from packages...processed foods...not the healthiest options, for sure.

Watching this movie, however, made me think that I should, at the very least, have a few "recipes" that I'm familiar with, a few things that I can have as my "go to's" that don't come from a package of some sort, that include fresh ingredients.

Now, don't go thinking I'm going to embark on some crazy challenge of Julie & Julia proportions...cooking my way through some lengthy cookbook in a year. That is SO NOT happening.

However, I've been inspired...so, I'm challenging myself to go through my MANY cookbooks (because, for someone who doesn't cook, I have an obsession with buying cookbooks), and every week cooking from one of the recipes in one of those books.

That's my challenge to myself...to cook more, by committing to cooking ONE meal from fresh ingredients, from a cookbook recipe, once a week, starting in January...

I should be able to do that, right? (GULP)...Right...

4 comments:

ZONE F DG TEAM said...

I've challenged myself to 100 recipes next year (maybe 111 recipes; one11 in twenty11 sounds kinda cool).

Do pop by my blog and say hello.

~michelle pendergrass said...

Cooking for one might be icky, but remember--you can cook a recipe and freeze it in single portions so you CAN eat healthy meals later!! :)

Can't wait to find out what you cook!

Amy said...

You can so do this! This is the time of your life that you can cook the stuff you love without changing it and modifying it to someone else's weird tastes... lol... Imagine cooking for someone that doesn't like chicken, or onions, or mushrooms, or vegetables. Thanksgiving is a nightmare - no onions in this, double dishes of that with one omitting celery... UGH!!!

Pamper yourself, and freeze freeze freeze!

Amber said...

Well, I haven't seen the movie.. and I'm not really a very good cook. =(
But if you are then you should totally be cooking more often!! No excuses!! =p