I hunger for your love

In the spirit of the holiday at hand, I feel the need to write about the first time someone attempted to make out with me. I use the word "attempted," because it was not a successful endeavor. Not for him. See, I was a wee lass of just 15 (shut up, I was a late bloomer), and while I spent much of my freshman and sophomore years painfully pining for this particular boy, wishing and hoping he'd express his true feelings for me, too, when it came down to it, when the moment was finally upon us to seal the deal with a kiss after he appeared on my doorstep with a carnation in hand on Valentine's Day, I was so nervous, so anxious, so embarrassed that I ever-so-slightly turned my head as he came in for the kill, and thusly, he ended up making out with my nose and part of my cheek, tongue and all. Oh, it was awkward. I think I'm still scarred from that experience. Back to the task at hand! What follows is the second part of my interview, as conducted by RA and puppetmastered by Neil. Part three (wherein I address Trina's inquiry from the previous post) to come tomorrow. Holla! *** 8. I won't make you choose just one last meal, but what would be your last day of meals? You get breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner, and let's assume that you can travel instantaneously if you need to hit up a specific restaurant. Breakfast: Eggs (like three or four eggs) scrambled with herbs and cracked pepper, crispy, butcher-cut bacon (at least five or six pieces) cooked well, sourdough toast with a slather of salted butter and a honey-sweetend latte made with whole cream. Lunch: Caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, a sprinkling of fresh basil, a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a turn or two of cracked pepper and sea salt. Also: a demi baguette on the side to sop up the drippings. Snack: Fresh-made tortilla chips and chunky guacamole made with sour cream and cilantro. Dinner: Roth's Thai-spiced flank steak, cooked medium, with a heaping side of creamy garlic mashed potatoes, spicy broccolini and a crisp glass of Gewürztraminer. (How could you not ask me about) Dessert (?): My own "third time's a charm" molten chocolate lava cake, served with a heavy-handed dollop of fresh whipped cream. Then, after all that, I could (and likely would!) die. 9. Are there any foods that you hate or are scared to try? Hate: olives, lamb, egg nog, papayas Scared to try: any sort of glandular or organ meats from any sort of animal 10. What is your favorite thing to cook? Why? I'm so green when it comes to cooking, but there are a few recipes I've successfully conquered. Like mushroom risotto, recipe straight from the side of the risotto box. Or anything with leeks, like potato, gruyere and leek gratin, or vichyssoise, served warm. I do enjoy cooking a big 'ol pot of chili, too. For me, the hardest part of cooking is all the preparation. I only enjoy cooking the above mentioned items when all of the aromatics have been diced, all of the cans have been opened and all of my ducks are in a row. Cooking can be chaotic, but for me to enjoy it, there has to be a method to the madness. That method, for me, is all in the details. 11. Have you ever had a truly spectacular cooking failure? Heh, just recently, actually. While prepping for our Seven Deadly Sins dinner, I almost lost my mind trying to make the chocolate truffles for the molten lava cakes. I was using a vegan dark chocolate, one without butterfat, so it was not melting properly. My instinct was to scrap the whole thing, run to the store for different chocolate and start anew. I believe I even stamped my foot in protest when Roth insisted on "fixing" my mess. All he did was add butter (duh), and crisis was averted. But it could've been a monumental failure if I hadn't had Roth by my side to reassure me the chocolate wasn't completely ruined, as I felt it was. Mostly, though, I avoid anything too complicated, so I've yet to really screw anything up too bad. But yeah, I've burnt grilled cheese sandwiches and made a sloppy mess trying to flip pancakes. 12. I notice that most blogging food-types don't enjoy the Food Network. What are your thoughts? I frequently refer to Food Network online for recipes, but as far as its cavalcade of stars are concerned, some of whom make me want to stab myself in the eye with a fork (ahem, RachaelGiadaBobbyEmeril, ahem), I could do without the TV version. There are a handful of Food Network stars I don't mind at the moment, but give it a couple more months, and likely I'll be sick of Alton, Guy and Tyler, too. 13. Do you call yourself a foodie? Why or why not? I think I have called myself a foodie here or there, but it's a misnomer, at least as far as I'm concerned. Roth is definitely a foodie. I'm wannabe a foodie who's flown to the close to the sun on the wings of pastrami. I fear I'm far too picky to really venture outside my comfort zone when it comes to eating exotic food to fully embrace the label. But that's not to say I don't respect and admire true foodie types. If you think you can stomach a beating cobra heart, more power to you. 14. For more beginning cooks, what types of things do you recommend trying to build skills? I can't help but laugh to think that someone wants my opinion on the subject of cooking skills! I am the one who's deathly afraid of flipping anything in a skillet whilst it cooks. I am the one who refuses to deal with raw meat of any kind. I am the one who slices chunks out of her fingers on the mandoline. But, since you asked, my best advice is to learn some basic knife skills, like how to dice an onion. Up until like a week ago, I could not for the life of me properly dice an onion, but Roth showed me his technique (slice the onion three ways for a fine dice) for the umpteenth time, and it finally clicked. Also, invest in the Joy of Cooking and Food Lover's Companion, for reference. And, ignore any preconceived notions you have about your lack of skills. 15. I saw mention of a certain Jamaican Me Crazy chili. What's in it? Can you share the recipe? I recently misspoke when I referred to "my" Jamaican Me Crazy Chili recipe, as it was a recipe I found on AllRecipes years go. But over time, I've developed a variation on that recipe, which I coined Jen's Jive Turkey Chili, for some unfortunate reason. Recipe can be seen here. 16. What are the odds of bringing back the food blog? Did the content there feel much different than on your personal blog? I'd say the odds are good, because it's just inevitable, as I enjoy writing about food way too much for my "regular" blog. But the format and design needs to be tweaked, as it was originally set up as a restaurant review blog, and that ship sailed when I stopped writing Yelp reviews because I just couldn't stand the idea of not getting paid for all that content. The content was different, less anecdotal, which I think I would try to instill more of in a new food blog. Like, here's a recipe we tried, but here's what happened in the kitchen when we tried to make it. I also want to be able to comment on food-related trends, and for it to be a place to post all of my food photography. *** OK, so now I'm hungry. Also, look for my interview with Sara over at her place.