The Burden of Cooking

Cooking is stressful and more trouble than it's worth. This morning I made scrambled eggs with toast, juice, sliced apple and coffee. Healthy and enjoyable, but would have been so much better if someone else had made it for me. By the time I spilled raw egg on my slippers, burnt the toast, and overcooked the eggs, I'd almost lost my appetite. Either I need to find a job that pays enough that I can afford to employ a personal chef, or I need to take cooking classes. You know you're not good with food when making a simple breakfast is a total headache.

I've heard The Joy of Cooking is a good place to start for the novice in the kitchen. Maybe I should invest in this and a few other cookbooks.

I'm also wondering about the whole vegetarian diet. I'm less likely to give myself food poisoning if I screw up and under-cook a mushroom burger or forget to store leftover chicken casserole properly. And no one likes salmonella first thing in the morning. Maybe that's the way to go. Kill to two stones with one bird: learn to cook and become a semi-vegan at the same time.

Living off hot dogs and Five Alive is so 2004. I need to learn to be a grown-up and make meals that consist of more than just one type of pasta or tepid soup from a can. The one benefit to not being a food snob is that avocado on toast and a glass of milk can make me very happy, but it's going to become a problem when I do decide to throw a dinner party for friends who will no longer be impressed by beer and pizza.

5 Speed

On Labour Day I bought a car and have been re-learning how to drive. It's a standard, which means although I've been driving with ease for the past 11 years, I feel like I should stick a red N on the back. So far I've managed to only stall it about once on any given trip, but hills have left me stunned. Where is that magic window between letting the clutch out and giving it gas? It's like a secret I have yet to be let in on.

The thing is, if I'm going to be a reporter I do need a car. And, more importantly, if I'm going to one day drive a sports car on the Autobahn,I must be an expert at shifting gears. So this is step one. I guess step two is save enough for a ticket to Germany. Das est good, ya!