FS gourmet

So, I've been on something of a cooking kick lately.  It all stems from the fact that I really quite enjoy food, and I tend to associate it with times, locations, and emotions.  When I last lived abroad, I spent the better part of a year craving bagels every day, and there are at least three online international groceries that have saved regular orders for me.

So, knowing this, I decided to prepare ahead of time for what would eventually be quite an extended time away from the united states.  Basically, I figured it would be a good idea to learn to make everything I enjoy from the barest possible ingredients.

So first, I started with cookies.  Easy enough, I know, but it's hard to find "your recipe", especially when you're baking at altitude.

Then I moved up a little: Pizza, soft pretzels, ice cream, and oreo cookies.  The ice cream turned out very well, if I do say so, both with and without egg yolks.  Here's a bit of my "hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows" batch:

Today marked my most auspicious "from scratch" experiment yet:  Mexican food.

Since I'm devoted to doing this all from scratch, I started with long grain rice, pinto beans, tomatoes, onions, a pork loin with a leaf of pork fat, some flour, and a block of cheese.  I'm looking into making the cheese from milk, but that's pretty involved.

So, in short, I learned a good deal.  I learned how to render lard, how to roll out tortillas from dough, how to cook legit Mexican (Spanish) rice, and how to beg the Hispanic ladies at my local taqueria  to share their secrets with me (cumin!).  It honestly turned out great, though every time I try a recipe I file away mental notes of how to improve it next go around.  First suggestion for next time? Open the windows when you render lard.  It is delicious stuff, and good for you, too, insofar as any fat can be good for you, but it's hard to get the "insides of a pig" smell out of your nose for a few hours afterward...

The next step is homemade bagels, fritos, and tacos al pastor.  Hopefully I'm not being too optimistic in thinking I'll have the time, inclination, and available heavy cream overseas to keep this up.  In any case, this kind of exercise seems like its own reward.  I need something to keep my skill up before I attempt pomegranate caviar again, anyhow...