Stories from the kitchen

Having flu (to be more precise, missing an entire week from school) made me realise that I should live more healthily. I’ve always known that I am not the Embodiment of Health, but somehow I managed to get away with it without any serious consequences. But this time, it was different… And I decided to change a few things in my lifestyle. It is not as easy as it sounds… 🙂

First of all, I started to pay attention to my “five-a-day”. To those from outside the UK: this is an expression used to promote eating at least five portions of fruit/vegetables per day. And let’s just say, in the autumn term I barely had my one-a-day… So I stocked up on extensive amount of bananas and tangerines (since these are the only two fruits I’m willing to eat with daily frequency) and started my new diet. After one week, I’ve already got bored with them. 🙂 But I don’t care: I have to eat them because I don’t want to miss lectures again. And if I have to choose between a boring tangerine and a missed lecture, we all know what my answer will be…

My second “post-flu resolution” was to minimise my Tesco ready-meal consumption. In the autumn term, I ate ready-meals six times a week (and it sounds even terrible if I tell that there are only 3 or 4 different types I like…). I know it’s not very healthy but I was telling myself “I don’t have time for cooking, that’s my only option”. I only cooked once in every two weeks, when I needed something for the newsletter.

[I am the article editor of the Woodward Newsletter, and I have a regular column called “Cooking made easy by Dora”. No, I don’t know why I am giving cooking advice when I cannot even cook… But I managed to cook different things every time, and I haven’t messed it up so far 🙂 I’ll talk about it in detail in another post…]

I started with basic stuff I know how to do (or know how to google…) and I’m doing quite well so far! I realised I actually like fiddling around in the kitchen and creating edible stuff from scratch. I even bought a recipe book (though I don’t know why, I am the “natural instinct” type who cannot follow a recipe).

So, here are my recent cookings (I am sooooo proud 😀 )

Meatballs in chili con carne sauce with pasta - "The meatballs were on sale in tesco"
Meatballs in chili con carne sauce with pasta – “The meatballs were on sale in tesco”

 

Potato with chicken and salad - "I had to google how to make the potato"
Potato with chicken and salad – “I had to google how to make the potato”

 

Burgers with potato and salad - "I had absolutely no idea what to do with the burger things, so I just put them in the oven, went to facebook and then took them out when I got bored with facebook"
Burgers with potato and salad – “I had absolutely no idea what to do with the burger things, so I just put them in the oven, went to facebook and then took them out when I got bored with facebook”

 

Pasta with cottage cheese, soured cream and sugar - "Classic Hungarian, except that when my mother makes it, it looks 3x better..."
Pasta with cottage cheese, soured cream and sugar – “Classic Hungarian, except that when my mother makes it, it looks 3x better…”

(For my dearest flatmates who cannot believe this is an actual dish and constantly joke about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Túrós_csusza 😀 )

Scrambled eggs - "The good old... That was the second thing I learnt how to cook, because I googled it so many times."
Scrambled eggs – “The good old… That was the second thing I learnt how to cook, because I googled it so many times.”

 

Cream of wheat (made of semolina) - "My all-time favourite dish, I could basically eat it every day... The first thing I learnt how to cook, because I didn't want to ask my mother every morning to make it..."
Cream of wheat (made of semolina) – “My all-time favourite dish, I could basically eat it every day… The first thing I learnt how to cook, because I didn’t want to ask my mother every morning to make it…”

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