Days 4 and 5 - Spaghetti Sauce and Alfredo Sauce

I don't have a full picture of it but this was actually quite the spread, a lot of good food!

Prompts: Make a lunch based on a family member's favorite cooking technique (Day 4). My dad talked about sauteing (I don't know how to make the accented e on Windows), and so I helped him out with doing that for his spaghetti sauce while I made my own Alfredo sauce for Day 5: Make a dinner based on a friend's favorite ingredient. My violinist friend specifically mentioned Alfredo sauce, which was quite relaxing as I've made it several times before. 

The thought process: These didn’t take a whole lot of creative effort, which was good because with the way I was feeling this weekend, I didn’t have a whole lot of creative effort in me. With good fortune my cold will get better soon, it is troubling to be cooking food when you’re coughing all the time.

Self-reflection: Sometimes certain cooking experiences remind me how inexperienced I am in the kitchen or how slowly I carry out cooking techniques, or generally just how much better I could be. Cooking with my parents around is definitely one of those times. I mean, yeah, they’ve had some 30+ more years of life experience than me, but still… I was constantly being guided by my father about how to stir, how to turn the food, et cetera.

Regardless, both the red sauce and the white sauce turned out rather effective! My job for the red sauce was just to sauté the meat/onions/peppers (the latter of which were all from my father’s garden), which was mostly successful—although apparently I am not aggressive enough in the manner I scrape meat to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

The same applies to the way I stir. I’m always a little overly careful when I cook, which can be just as detrimental to the end result as being completely careless. Quick reflexes and improvisational skills are good things to have as a musician or a chef, and I would only describe myself as one of those things at this point.

The alfredo sauce was thinner than I was expecting due to using milk instead of cream. I can chalk that one up to poor foresight, but my mother offered a solution with cornstarch that was fortunately lying around the house. I guess it might be cheating that my parents were involved so heavily in the cooking, but hey, I was visiting them and Day 4’s meal was based on my dad’s favorite cooking technique anyway.

I will say that I definitely cheated with the kind of meal that was supposed to be cooked. All of the food made for the day went into dinner, but I’m sure the leftovers will be used for lunches yet to come, so technically I’m still basically on track.

Quote to sum up the cooking process: “Three’s a crowd.”