I had the most startling revelation this morning. Apparently, we are no longer addicted to condiments! I was thinking about scrambling some eggs for breakfast, which I rarely do anymore, and that got me to wondering if there was any salsa or catsup in the fridge. Yes, there was, but both were wildly out of date - by a year or two! How did this come to pass? I mean, we're talking about a gal who used to buy new bottles of each just about every time she went to the store! In fact, when I posted that little "How We Met" story the other day, my now infamous roomie sent me a message saying "I knew John was falling for you when little dishes of catsup started showing up at breakfast, since you were the only girl in all three dorms who put catsup on scrambled eggs!"
Another college friend, upon seeing me grab the bottle at dinner, announced "Studies show that people who use an excessive amount of condiments never really liked their mothers' cooking." When I thought about it, I realized she was probably right. Though Mom was great at baking sweets and fixing party food, she was less than inspired when it came to the everyday drudgery of feeding a family of six, and by the time I was in high school, she had given up cooking altogether. John must have had youthful food issues as well, because he couldn't eat a meal without dousing it in A-1, Worcestershire, or tabasco.
Still, that didn't explain why those habits stayed with us for so many years afterwards, despite all the effort I put into recipe collecting, menu planning and grocery shopping, then suddenly disappeared in the last five, unless... Could it be the ingredients I was using, rather than what I was cooking? Was it really as simple as making the switch from packaged, processed, low fat, low flavor ingredients, to those like we received in this week's Bountiful Sprout basket -- real food, straight from real farmers, that needs nothing more than a few sprigs of real herbs, a dab of real butter or really good olive oil and a touch of real wine? Has that really caused such a flavor explosion in our meals, that our palates are finally satisfied, and we no longer feel compelled to drown or disguise everything we eat? Try it, and see what you think.
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4 comments:
My years of buying bottled salsa have now ceased since I'm blending up a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis, a clove of garlic, a jalapeno and serrano pepper, handful of cilantro, salt, pepper, dash of cumin and lime juice.
Mayo and sriracha makes a great dip for cold boiled shrimp.
The fridge door now only contains ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, 'wooster-sure', and Cholula hot sauce.
My dad, for years, used to mix Pace and mayo for dipping potato chips. Fresh is wayyyyy better!
The basket goodies look great; those blackberries look scrumptious. Read recently that the Hill Country peach crop should be terrific this year.
Great pics!
I think you are exactly right about using good fresh ingredients. Now that we've moved, I can hardly wait to start shopping at the twice-weekly Farmers' Market. A good friend just dropped off an extraordinary welcome gift--eggs she just collected this morning. Woo-hoo! Fresh omelets tonight!
The best thing that ever happened to my fridge door? Getting rid of all the bottled salad dressings! So much more space now that I finally discovered the brilliant ease of whipping up a simple vinaigrette. And yes, I've been hearing the same thing about this years peach crop. I guess peaches and wildflowers must like the same things.
Susan, I'd never had fresh eggs until I moved to the Hill Country. They are oh so good - and not just for breakfast anymore! During the week, when I'm just cooking for myself, I almost never cook meat. It's usually just wonderful fresh fruit and veggies, plus a bit of cheese or one of those amazing eggs. I save the meat for when hubby is here.
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