Change is a comin'

... and no, this is NOT some political post...

... but rather, it's about me...

(are you still reading? or did I just lose everyone?)

Lately, I've been totally jealous inspired by my friend Bree's blog. I've known her as this amazing photographer, but little did I know that she's an amazing baker as well! So you mix those things together and you get one cool chick with crazy mad skills. And honestly... I want to be just like her. 

But if I'm being realistic and honest with myself... well... that's one goal that is just too lofty to achieve. I rarely cook, occasionally bake (I'm actually kind of scared of ovens), and I have no clue how to use Photoshop (or even the 'manual' setting on my camera). So instead of wallowing in self-pity over the fact that I'm not nearly as cool, I'm opting to go for the status of 'mediocre'. 

I'm actually not kidding. I mean, if expectations are 'low' to begin with, then chances are I can come out looking half-way decent! Brilliant plan if you ask me. 

So to start off, this is what I made for dinner:

Yeah. That's right. There's nothing there. I ate it all, and didn't think of taking a photo until after I was done. (but at least I took a photo... which I think technically puts me one step ahead of being mediocre...) I wanted to make this chicken porridge I saw online from a Korean cook/blogger (yes, I'm still on my Korean kick) but I was too hungry to wait the full 2 hours required to make it. So instead, I took the liberty of substituting this for that, here and there, and I ended up with something that was kind of similar to 'war won ton soup' that would get at a Chinese restaurant (except there were no won tons, shrimp, water chestnuts, pork and I added egg). 

Here's the recipe:

A carton of chicken stock (I think it said it was around 4 cups)

Daikon radish (got this at Raley's, so you don't need a Asian Grocery store to find it)

Green Onion (I think they're also called scallions)

Minute rice (don't laugh)

Spinach (just a bag of it from the salad aisle)

3 eggs (but that was too many, so maybe 2?)

Rotisserie Chicken

I put the chicken stock in a large pot. I can't remember if I added water to it. I think maybe I did. Maybe 2 cups? I honestly can't remember. I took about 1/3 of the daikon radish (I had a pretty big one), peeled it with a vegetable peeler, and then cut it into thin slices (I cut then cut them in half so they weren't too big.) I took 1 green onion and cut it diagonally into thin slices and threw that, with the daikon into the chicken stock. I brought it to a boil, and threw in a big handful of spinach and added a few turns of my sea salt grinder.  Then I took the eggs, and beat them in a bowl. I read that you're supposed to 'turn' the egg in, or something like that, and I had NO CLUE what that meant. So I just slowly poured it in back and forth (it started to look like egg flower soup). I also read that you should let it sit for 10 seconds so the egg cooks in the broth before stirring. I let it sit for longer because I was afraid that it would be runny (um... yeah... no need to worry about that. Once I finally did stir it, I found a freakishly huge omelette sitting in the bottom of my pot, so I had to break it it up  - hence why I said use less egg). 

I had started the minute rice first, so it was done by the time I was ready for it. I put some in the bottom of a bowl, and then shredded some of the rotisserie chicken and added that to the rice. Then I added the 'soup' mixture on top of the rice/chicken. 

And wonders of wonders, it actually tasted good!

Even Bob liked it  (and Claire too). So now I have something super easy to make that sounds really weird, but tastes pretty decent (it is on the salty side... but I like salt). 

So that's going to be my new 'change'. My new 'challenge' so to speak. I'm going to try to cook/bake more, and just hope for mediocre results. Maybe just going through the motions will make me better. Or maybe I'll find that I actually enjoy it. Or maybe I'll fail miserably. 

But what ever happens, what ever the results, I'll be sure to document it. Just be prepared for mediocre photographs... as I said before. I don't know how to use Photoshop.