If you study food science major in the United States, you'd most probably end up in a somehow rural settings where entertainment is somewhat limited. After I came to Wageningen, I feel that there were actually more entertainment in Urbana-Champaign. Basically, Walmart is my haven. I remember spending 2 hours in food section of Walmart with my foodie friends after having a large dinner together. Yep, this was how I spent my bachelor degree without getting too bored.
I actually made recipe cards for the stuffs that I cooked. Printing photos in Walmart was quite cheap and easy, so I just did a simple editing by adding text into the pictures, and print them. Then I wrote the recipe at the back. Almost all of the food that I cook have no recipes - they were just something that I thought of when I was bored. Now my mum keeps this recipe-in-photo collection of mine.
It is actually easier to get ingredients in the States than in the Netherlands, although the freshness of the items, especially fruits and vegetables, might not be as good as those in the Netherlands. Farmers markets sell them at expensive price, and those found in large groceries stores like Walmart are normally picked before they were ripe, and ripening occurs during storage (because of increased ethylene concentration). Tomatoes taste less sweet, French beans last shorter... oh, and a lot of fruits are pre-packed. Cut pineapples in modified atmosphere packaging taste really sweet, and sometimes I don't know if they spray liquid sugar to keep its freshness (and also to reduce browning from oxidation).
Well, these were some of the things I cooked in the past. Somehow I feel that I was way more creative back then. Like substituting roasted seaweed with egg white as sushi wrap? Yeah, it's insane, but it's possible.
ReplyDeleteomg these foods look delicious. If you are in the United States and want to try caviar, we recommend this (Caviar Lover).