Lessons for 2009: texture is important

Well, our year began without a bang, without a fizzle, without even a drizzle! Z and I stayed in this year and when we woke up the following day the water no longer worked in our house. It was dreadful, but all is well now and to celebrate we decided to cook. We had purchased some badly needed supplies earlier (a real mixing bowl since our plastic ones seemed to disintegrate), a whisk, a spatula, and one of those awesome 4 sided graders so I decided that it would be nice to use all of them. I also got a parking ticket the other day, so I wanted to cook cheaply. It was difficult, but then I realized that I could make a weird frittata thing. Here is what I did:

1. Into the huge mixing bowl (check) I graded (check) a potato and a sweet potato. I think threw some pre-graded cheese in and some spices (salt, pepper, cayenne).
2. I cracked 4 eggs into the bowl and whisked (check) the stuff together.
3. I threw some oil into a large pan and then spatula'd (check) the entire mixture into the pan. Here I did what I could to flatten things.
Then I let the whole thing fry (covered) for a while.
4. After it seemed ready I flipped it and put it back in upside down. The flipping part is a lot of fun, though people who write about cooking online seem to think it is difficult. Maybe there are a lot of disabled people blogging about cooking. If they can't use their arms very well then it would make sense that they have a hard time with the flipping. Otherwise I just don't know. All you do is get a plate ready and take the whole pan and flip it over so that the weird eggy pancake thing lands on the plate. Then slide it back into the pan upside down.
5. After a very little bit so that the other side was cooked through I slide the whole thing on a pan.
6. Then I realized that I had forgotten to put peppers and onions in. I had planned to do this and felt really stupid for not doing it, but that sort of thing happens to me a lot when I just decide to make up some food idea without a recipe. It wasn't too disastrous because i threw a little extra cheese and some salsa on top and covered the plate for a few minutes so that it would get all melty.
7. I ate most of it. That is a lot of food to eat most of, so it must have been pretty good. I like eating plate-sized round things a lot.

I'm going to take a moment here to reaffirm the importance of texture in eating. If I were more into it I would try to describe what an eggy pancake feels like, but I don't think I am. It feels really good though. Better than quiche, even a fresh one.

Z made an even more delicious thing though. It was pastery-wrapped brie that had been baked. All kinds of delicious things had been drizzled all over the inside and the outside before cooking: syrup (from the Adirondacks), rasberry jam, and some other stuff. When it came out it had to cool for a few minutes and then it was a delicious cheesy-sweet blob. I ate part with just the pastry, part with apple, and part with cracker. I also loved brie for the first time ever. Turns out that is brie is warm and melty instead of cold and buttery I like it a lot. The taste is amazing. Once again, texture makes all the difference.

So, 2009 is off to a good start now. I have successfully gotten myself to like brie. One of my new years resolutions is to make homemade mayonaisse and not be grossed out by it. This condiment seems so disgusting to me, but it is used in so many things that are so delicious. I think that I limit my options too much by looking at thing, seeing the word 'mayo', and turning away in disgust.