I am Epicurious

ep·i·cure n. A person with refined taste, especially in food and wine. A person devoted to sensuous pleasure and luxurious living. I am in no way implying that I am an epicure. Dare to dream. I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. I really enjoy trying new recipes (and altering them), the aroma of cooking food, sharing the experience with others and of course eating the creations. But I am more of an event cook. I need an occasion or some reason to cook a meal. The daily chore of finding something to cook and eat is not for me. I really don't like trying to create something from nothing (my mom is the master of this) and I find it challenging (read frustrating) to cook for one. I hate cooking the same easy, boring stuff that comes pre-packaged. The microwave should NOT be the primary cooking device in the kitchen. During the past 2+ years I have cooked 4 times! I made pecan pies for Thanksgiving, tortellini salad for a party, buffalo chicken salad (just because I like my buffalo sauce), and yesterday I made a pretty good pasta dish with roasted potatoes. I guess yesterday's event was Conference. It certainly prevented me from dozing off during the monotone talks! For some time now I have had the itch to cook again. I have idly discussed with others about creating a small dinner group and even offered to cook for some folks but nothing has developed yet. Mostly from scheduling confilicts and lack of real motivation. This weekend I decided I had better brush up my very weak cooking skills since I made such bold offers. I found a recipe on Epicurious that sounded pretty good and decided to go for it. Fettucine with Chicken and Bell Pepper Cream Sauce I used red, yellow, and orange bell peppers (no green) and added a bunch of mushrooms too. I like a lot of sauce and the amount on the recipe just didn't sound like enough. Plus I decided to cook the whole package of pasta so I needed more! I used half and half (about double what it called for) instead of whipped cream (trying to make it a bit healthier) and double the chicken broth. My chicken turned out to be freezer burned (its only been in there for 6 months!) so the dished ended up vegetarian. I cut back on the amount of garlic (although I love garlic it just seemed like too much) and the red pepper flakes were a great addition. I also cooked some Roasted Red Potatoes with parsley flakes (one of Emily's favorite creations). Everything turned out really good and now I have leftovers for the rest of week! And a day later - I'm looking for my next recipe ;)