Week 4

Monday-Starting this a little late at night but I still wanted to make sure to write my report. Tonight I made a few things. With the chicken that I cut up last Thursday I barbecued it and and it tasted pretty good. I also cooked up some steak while I was out there and both turned out great the the steak was a little well done. The steak was ridiculously thick though and it swelled even more more when on the grill so I think I did a good job considering. I cooked it outside in the dark and and how important is is to be able to see the food that you are cooking because once I bought it in for the first time it was still super rare. I made mashed potatoes and a cake also. My mom showed me how to properly make mashed potatoes. She told me that adding the raw potatoes into the water before it boils makes them less starchy and I think it worked pretty well.
Wednesday- I have pretty much settled on a schedule for my cooking now. I have decided Monday, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tonight I made some pork chops with bread crumbs. Ive gotten a lot better at judging when meat is done now so I have noticed a change of how the meat tastes. This time I got the pork right at the point of a little pinkness and it tasted really good. The breadcrumbs didn't want to stick at first but after a little time spent on that I was able to get a nice coating on them. After that I dribble some lemon juice on it and served it up. The rest of the food was just some steamed vegetables that were leftover from last night.
Friday- Not much happen tonight cooking wise but I did make a few steamed vegetables and some noodles for my sister and me. I out the vegetable in a steaming container that we have that goes into the microwave. I accidentally left it for to long and they were way over done but I guess that is experience.
Sunday- Tonight I learned a lot of new things about new meals. First I started off by making some mushrooms in a frying pan. I always loved the taste of Portabella mushrooms after being cooked in a pan and now I know how to make them. Next I made some artichokes which were a little more complicated than i thought. The artichokes have to be cut in half so that the edible part is more easily accessible. The you have to cut the stock off some and my mom also told me to use some scissors to trim the pricks off of the remaining petals so that I would not stab myself later on. Artichokes have to be steamed so I filled a pot up with about an inch of water and laid the artichokes down on there sides in the water. The pan lid was left a little off so that the steam cook escape. They took about an hour to cook and I had to make sure they didn't stay in to long or else they cook get waterlogged and it ruins it in a way.They did turn out a little water logged but they still tasted fine. Next I made some rice which had to cook for much longer than I thought which was near an hour. My step father told me that it is important no to open the lid when making rice because once all the steam is release it loses its heat and the rice sometimes turns out bad. For the main dish I went outside to use the gas grill which I like much more than the charcoal grill because it is so much easier to handle overall. I cooked up some salmon and some yellow fin tuna which is just Ahi fish. They both cooked really quickly and the Ahi only took about 3 minutes because its usually a sushi but we were cooking it up a little so that the outside looked grilled but the inside had a very distinctive red . I loved the salmon and just garlic salt and some pepper has become my favorite seasoning but Ive never been a big fan of the Ahi even when we get it in Hawaii I have never really liked it so I think Ill stick with salmon and trout.