Back in the Kitchen
I have always enjoyed cooking; breakfast was always my favorite meal to cook and as a kid I would always volunteer to cook breakfast for my parents. Part of the fun of cooking for me is trying out new foods and recipes. This post will be the first in a series of shorter posts about a new recipe I tried that week. The posts will be in addition to Sunday’s post and I hope to get one up every week.
The thing I enjoy most about cooking now is that I get to do it with my wife. There is just something special about being able to work together on something we are making. The best part is you get a delicious meal out of it too! I really appreciate all the support she has been giving me and I am glad to have her with me on this adventure.
This week we made teriyaki salmon with white rice and stir fry veggies. I really enjoy Japanese style of cooking, at least the kind I have been exposed to as an American. Japanese inspired dishes will probably be a common theme but I do also want to branch out and I encourage you to leave some of your favorite recipes in the comments below and maybe we will try those out!
One thing to know about me is that I grew up not liking fish at all. The only fish you could get me to eat was fish sticks or fish from Long John Silvers, and I don’t know if you can really call either of those fish. Obviously, I was a little hesitant to be making salmon because there was a good possibility that I just wouldn’t like it at all.
Cooking the salmon was trickier than I had expected. I am not particularly good at cooking meats to a particular doneness and I struggled to get the salmon cooked right, but in the end it actually came out pretty good. The teriyaki sauce turned into a nice glaze and the salmon was light and flaky. To my surprise, the fish wasn’t fishy at all. It just tasted fresh and the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce paired really nicely with the freshness of the fish. The veggies I came up with that we made with it were just some onions, carrots, broccoli, and mushrooms cooked down in a pan with some soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and sesame oil. When I first told my parents that I was eating vegetables, they didn’t believe me. I guess those things just grow on you more as you get older.
Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this post as it was a little different than the rest. My hope is that I will be getting more into the actual trying new things part of the project, this post is just the beginning. My state is doing a pretty good job of getting everyone vaccinated; I am fully vaccinated myself, so I feel much more comfortable going out to do things in public.
We got to go out to a local winery this week and it was an oddly refreshing experience. I have always been more of an introvert and I thought for sure I would prefer staying at home but I found that I really enjoyed it. It was nice to hang out and just talk with some friends and have some good food. I even tried a strawberry Italian soda! It was sparkling water with cream and a strawberry syrup. It was very interesting and much more refreshing than a typical soda because it wasn’t overly sweet. I got the lasagna for dinner and was surprised how light it was compared to the lasagna I normally have. I am used to the lasagna from places around here being greasy, heavy, and loaded with cheese. The lasagna I was was light and not greasy at all. Part of me missed the greasy cheesiness but it was nice to have something that didn’t sit so heavy in my stomach.
I hope to be able to get out and do more things soon. I want to go hiking around here in the coming week and I am going to start looking into glass blowing and maybe even skydiving so check in for updates on those as we are moving forward. I am excited to make new memories and share new experiences with my friends throughout the course of this project. I hope I am able to continue it and grow it into something really special.
Thank you to all of my readers and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
The recipe can be found here from Joyous Apron
