Today is my 43rd birthday and I feel truly blessed to be here. What will I do on this fine day, you ask? I have no idea. The first thing I did this morning was work on a new recipe for my cookbook. About a year ago I had absolutely no confidence in my cooking skills. I could feed myself, close friends and family, but my food was just run of the mill. Whenever I had to take a dish to a function, I would just get my mom to do it. She used to cater, and she loved cooking. Well that has changed over this past year. It started with me going to the local "Le Cordon Bleu" school to inquire about getting a degree. The Associates degree was pretty expensive. I don't remember exactly, but it was over $20,000 for the 9 month (or something very close to that) program. The two year degree progam was about $40,000. Not really what I had in mind. I had no desire to work in the restaurant field. I was planning to do my own thing.
$20,000 can buy a lot of food! So I decided to teach myself how to cook. I ended up finding this wonderful on line school called, Rouxbe (http://www.rouxbe.com/). They focused more on the science and techniques of cooking. This was right down my alley. I don't mind cooking from a recipe, but I realize now that being able to develop my own dishes gives me that creative freedom that allows me to embrace cooking and really love it. Rouxbe on-line cooking school is wonderful. I lucked out and got in for an unbelievable Lifetime price just before they raised their prices.
This dish probably doesn't look so appetizing, but it is one of my favorites, and if you like okra, it tastes fantabulous. It is actually still in the cooking process. This was the first time I threw in a few mushrooms. I will add more next time, as the taste worked quite well with the other vegetables and spices. I tried a few different spices than before, and I think I got it almost the way I want. Normally, I eat this by itself, but his morning I cooked brown rice as the base. I will try other bases, like couscous, etc. I like cooking first thing in the morning, before I get totally engrossed in the dolls. All of the recipes I develop will be reproduced in 1/6 scale....someday.
