Oops, they did it again

You may remember me posting around this time last year about my company's emergency program wherein we have to provide contact numbers for them to contact us in the event of an emergency (such as a hurricane event). It's required that we update (or confirm the information previously provided) it every year and they expect us to provide our personal cell numbers as the first contact, and I've been refusing to do that on principle.

But anyway, they give us a deadline and once that deadline has passed, they test the system. We get a second email instructing us to call in to confirm we know how to use the system, with a new deadline. If we don't make that call by the deadline, they start calling the numbers on the contact list.

Well, like last year, my step-father received a call asking him if he knew where I was.

In my defense (last year I was ignoring the email, thinking nothing would happen), I've been off work for a while and yesterday was my first day back and the second email came while I was out so I didn't see it before they called him.

The funny thing is, the reason I've been out is because I found out recently that I have mono and my doctor put me on medical leave so that I could rest. My step-father knew that and he also knew that I was scheduled to go back to work yesterday. And then he gets a phone call asking if he knows where I am.

So, like last year, I received a frantic call from him asking if all was okay. Poor guy.

Next year I probably should just suck it up and give them my cell number. lol

Plotter or Pantser?

Normally this would be a question asked of a writer but I'm curious about cooking. Are you a plotter (planner) or a pantser?

Since I turned over a new leaf and started eating vegetarian/vegan, I cook mostly from recipes. With the exception of a few Weight Watchers recipes that I loved, I'm not really a recipe kind of girl.

But that's not really the question I wanted to pose here exactly. No, I'm wondering about once you've decided what you're going to cook.

In this scenario, a plotter is someone who reviews the ingredients and lays them out beforehand so that they're readily available. They might even have them portioned out according to the recipe so that all they have to do is pour the ingredients into the mix when the recipe calls for it. The plotter always knows how the dish is going to turn out.

The pantser, on the other hand, mentally runs down the ingredients in their head and dives head first into the recipe, pulling the ingredients out of the cupboard as the recipe calls for them and portions them out at that time. Unlike the plotter, things don't always turn out as expected.

Turns out, I'm a pantser. I find a recipe that looks interesting and mentally run down the ingredients in my head and dive in head first. As mentioned, this doesn't always work out as expected. For example, the other day I decided to make Snobby Joes (the meatless version of the Sloppy Joe). The lentils were cooking and I was sauteing the onions and pepper. Then I added the garlic. When the lentils were done, I added them, along with the chili powder, oregano and salt. Next I went to get out the tomato paste and tomato sauce. Only, I didn't have any tomato sauce (oops!) in the cupboard. Obviously I was already committed to the dish by this point but I didn't have all the needed ingredients, which I would've known, if I were a plotter. In the end I added extra tomato paste and diluted it with water and hoped it would work out okay. It was my first time cooking the dish and I have to say I liked it, despite my substitutions. Would it have been better if I'd followed the recipe to a T? Maybe, but that's a question for another day (as in the next time I make it - which I will . . . and I DO have tomato sauce now!).

This isn't the first time this has happened (remember the cornstarch / cornmeal question?) and probably won't be the last but what I find most interesting, for me, is that I've never really been someone who cooked a lot - much less experimented with new foods. I've never been one to eat grains or vegetables - at all. And yet, I've changed my diet to where that's a huge part of my diet, and not only do I like it, I'm even playing with recipes, creating my own dishes. (Yes, I realize the Snobby Joe thing isn't that big of a stretch but some of the things I've done, are.) I am actually enjoying not knowing how something is going to turn out. Not everything has been a success but most of them are good.

And so I've learned something about myself. I am a pantser. What about you? When it comes to cooking, are you a plotter or a pantser? Inquiring minds want to know. :o)

Things I've learned about food and cooking

In a previous blog post I alluded to the fact that I've changed my eating habits. What I didn't say was that I eliminated meat and dairy from my diet. As a result, I've been doing a lot more cooking and I've learned some lessons along the way - not all of them pretty.

In no particular order, here are some of the lessons I've learned:

1. Even with a list, you will invariably forget to buy at least one ingredient for a recipe you want to cook.

2. It's helpful to know what recipe the ingredients are for (so that you don't get home and find a critical ingredient to a recipe was the one thing you couldn't find).

3. You can make substitutes for pretty much any ingredient in a recipe.

4. I still can't figure out if cornstarch and cornmeal are the same thing (according to wikipedia, the UK seems to think they're interchangeable). I just know I haven't found cornstarch locally and cornmeal didn't seem to negatively impact the recipe I used it in (see 3 above).

5. There are an incredible amount of fruits, vegetables, grains, etc. that I had never heard of before but are quite good!

6. It's not necessarily a good idea to buy random fruits and vegetables if you don't know how you're going to use them when you get them home.

7. Russet potatoes are hard. Seriously HARD. I have a knife that can slice through bone like it was butter and it did NOT want to slice through the potato. (Note: once cooked, the potato was delicious!)

8. Waffles aren't as bad as I always thought they were.

9. Cleaning a waffle iron is NOT easy. :o)

10. Cleaning a juicer is only slightly easier.

11. I used to always say I didn't like much that was green and my mother always said one should take two bites of something before they made a definitive statement such as that. Well,
a. I stand by my belief that collard greens are not good. (My dogs do not share my opinion, however.)
b. I was wrong about asparagus.

12. Just because something smells good while cooking does not mean it will taste good (see 11a above).

13. Recipes are not always precise. (Note to cookbook authors. . . if you say an ingredient is needed for a recipe, it's nice if you include how it's used in the recipe - just saying. Also, saying "cook for 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed" is not good when it takes at least 1.5 hours for all liquid to be absorbed.)

14. There are some things you just cannot find anywhere but at Whole Foods.

15. The employees at Whole Foods are very nice and very helpful - at least in my experience.

16. Other things can be found outside of Whole Foods but at much higher prices. (Example: The only other place I've found Grade B Maple Syrup charges $16 more than Whole Foods for the exact same product.)

17. Pretty much everything tastes better with freshly squeezed lemon juice on it. :o)

18. The same can be said for maple syrup.

19. Even though vegan eating is considered healthy eating, there are certain vitamins that you will need to supplement if you completely give up meat and dairy.

20. It's not always easy to find a dish at a restaurant that accommodates a vegan diet.

In any event, it's been roughly four months since I started this new eating program and, overall, the experience has been positive and I have no regrets. :o)

June Book Club

I've joined Barrie's Summy's book club where they review books they like the first Wednesday of every month. To see what others are reading (and enjoying), click on the icon below.

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@Barrie Summy

Well, this is my first time participating in Barrie's book club and I'm kind of excited. I debated which book I wanted to be my first review and finally settled on This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection by Carol Burnett. I've been a huge fan of hers for as long as I can remember. I don't remember watching a lot of television growing up but The Carol Burnett Show was something the entire family sat down and watched. It's a fond memory I have from my childhood. So, when I heard she'd written this book (I read her first one way back when it came out as well), I immediately got online and ordered it.

It's not an autobiography of her life and the stories aren't even told in chronological order. In fact, each chapter is its own stand-alone story. For example, if you decided you wanted to read about Marlon Brando (a particular favorite story of mine) you could flip straight to that chapter without ruining any other part of the book. For the most part it's light-hearted and fun read but it turns a bit more serious and emotional when she touches on the death of her daughter Carrie Hamilton. She doesn't delve too deeply into the emotions but I didn't get the feeling she held back either. I've seen her in interviews over the years and heard her tell stories and this book was written in the way I've always heard her tell stories - very conversational-like. When I finished the book (which I read in a few hours time), I felt like I'd spent the afternoon with an old friend. For most of the book I had a huge smile on my face, at times laughing until tears streamed down my face. I still had the smile on my face when I finished the book and wished there were more stories to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

If you're looking for a book that is a tell-all, rip-others-apart-so-you-look-good, book, this is not the book for you. But if you're looking for a feel-good, laugh-til-you-snort book, you might want to check this one out.