Dessert Weekend

This weekend I was able to get away from school (and my non-airconditioned 150 million degree room) and go to the lake with a friend. We made chocolate peanut butter bars, clafouti, and chocolate covered strawberries. Delicious weekend.

Rating: 10/10

Prep Time: 15 minutes (+ 20 mins in the freezer)

Difficulty: 2/10

Rating: 8/10
Prep Time: 15 minutes (+ 1 hour in the oven)
Difficulty: 2/10

Rating: 10/10

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Difficulty: 1/10

Kristin

Martin & Kristin Reunion Special

Martin came to visit me today at school and brought along the things he found in his kitchen pantry at home. We had assumed that all grocery stores were closed on the 4th of July, but found out later that every significant store in the area is open for business...

Anyway, we started out with simple spaghetti and sauce:

Rating: 9/10 (Kristin), 6/10 (Martin)
Prep Time: 10  minutes
Difficulty: 2/10

Preparation took hardly any time at all because although we suck at cooking, we can boil water, to an extent. It was pretty hard, not letting the water boil over, but somehow we made something edible.

Next, since we're really bad at timing and synchronizing our cooking/ multitasking. We had canned vegetables for desert:

Rating: 1/10 (Kristin), 2/10 (Martin)
Prep Time: 1 minute
Difficulty: 4/10

WTF canned vegetables. More difficult to prepare than you'd expect:

Martin & Kristin

Avocado-y Breakfast

This weekend, I learned several things including #1) My mom pictures me someday married to a man at least ten years older than myself. I'm currently 21, and find that creepy.

#2) My mom had a variety of over ripe fruits and vegetables that she expected me to bring back to college and eat "within a day."

This is what it became:

For breakfast yesterday I ate: an over ripe, browning avocado, over ripe cherries, dough-y soft mango, and overly ripe smelling milk from my dorm's communal fridge.

Rating: 8.5/10
Prep time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: 2/10

I'm rating this meal so high because it contains so many of my favorite foods and tasted pretty good despite the dorm fridge-flavored milk (which I ended up throwing out after choking down half).

Kristin

Kristin's Bio

Hi I'm Kristin. I'm a graduate student at Smith College studying Education. I met both Martin and Debbie (my co-bloggers) while studying abroad in Japan our junior year of college.

Both Martin and Debbie are moving back to Japan to teach English, and I'll be stuck here reliving the hell that is being a student.

The difference is, this time I'll have to cook for myself. Even more hellish considering my limited cooking skills D:

I'm currently on the meal plan this summer, but I'll have to fend for myself on the weekends. Occasionally I will cook for myself, or prepare meals, but mostly this summer will detail the weird meals that you can put together from combinations of food stolen from the dining hall/ hoarded from the campus center cafe.

My real updates will begin in August. GET PUMPED YOU GUYS :D

Kristin

Howdy! Hi!

So, before any actual cooking with (sex)pots begins, I wanted to highlight that we've had an auspicious start: I googled the blog and it turns out it's the first thing that comes up! That's good, since my long-term hope for the blog is a (natural) segue into a book deal. If the dialog in Julie & Julia can get good reviews, then surely mine can too.

Anyway, my first post isn't much of a "cooking" post—more of a self-introduction as presented through food.  Here's the last thing I ate:

It's sugar decoration letters!! Or was, anyway. They are my favorite snack in the world (sans cake, obvi), and are indicative of the food standards I hold myself to. My mom and I were left alone to make dinner tonight, which meant the sugar letters became the meal's appetizer, eventually rounded out by pre-cooked chicken purchased from Stop & Shop. The usual cook—my dad—was out of town, and we saw no need to prove that we can get by on our own.

There is a saving grace, however. As an avid food network fan, I know that Sandra Lee is up for hours every night brainstorming how she's going to utilize her leftovers in "round two recipes." I'll have you know my mom and I figured out our round two in just minutes: this leftover chicken will reinvent itself as chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. Suck it Sandra!

Anyway, I expect the real cooking for me to begin next month when I move to Japan and get my first apartment. I technically have cooked things in the past, so there is a glimmer of hope for the future. Thanks Oberlin College co-ops for "teaching me how to cook"!

On a final note, a self-introduction suggests that someone besides me, Debbie, and Kristin may read this entry, and potentially want to know something about me, the author, Martin Rouse. I can assure you, the non-existent reader, that this is not the case. I just like writing about myself. But more importantly, I really really like Kristin and Debbie, and can't wait to get to know them better through their food choices and adventures.

Martin

PS- Hey guys I brushed my teeth! Note the generous helping of Red 3 and Red 40.