The Incredible Edible

So, as you know, I don't have any money. I did make some tips last weekend, and I finally got to pick up a paycheck for all my training time at The Cafe (thank God for the $8 an hour, huh?) but for the most part, I've been trying to get through the week on basically nothing. 

I was good. I didn't buy anything for myself or the apartment. I didn't even buy beer. And yet, the little cash I did have on hand managed to disappear and what did I spend it on?

I spent it on food. 

Monday I went to Vons and bought a pound of thick-sliced applewood-smoked bacon (they didn't have any pancetta and no one even knew what lardons were so I had to make do) and garlic-infused olive oil so I could make a garlicky linguine with chewy porky bites. Tuesday I went to the Asian market in Echo Park and even though stuff is sort of insanely cheap there, I managed to go kind of nuts, buying fish balls (that's little meatballs made of fish, not fish testicles), shrimp balls, udon, and fruit pudding mixes, along with all the ingredients for Vietnamese summer rolls, some of which turned out great, some of which were a little wonky. Yesterday I was going to make chicken noodle soup, since Mr. Puerco has had some kind of bird flu all week, but it turned out to be more cost effective to order Thai food. But that still cost money.

The thing is, between going to all my interviews, I have all this downtime, and all I really want to fill it with is cooking or plotting things I want to cook as soon as I can afford the ingredients and apparatus, or flipping through cookbooks or watching Top Chef. I've been waiting for so long to have my own kitchen and now that I do, I've filled it with all kinds of gadgets that I've always wanted. Like my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, which I've only used for pizza and cookies so far, but I am totally getting the pasta roller attachment so that I can make homemade linguine and ravioli and whatnot.

 

I've become sort of obsessed with pasta lately, because it's cheap and easy to make interesting with just a few ingredients. When I was still in New York, I hardly ever ate the Infamous Tuna Pasta, but here, I eat it about once a week. Usually what happens is that I'll make a big batch and then eat some and then eat the rest periodically throughout the day, so that on that day, all I consume is Tuna Pasta. 

Also, I've become obsessed with putting fried eggs on things. Sandwiches, burgers, pasta, arugula salads, everything is better with a fried egg on top, and as soon as I have a regular income I am totally buying those round fried-egg molds from Williams-Sonoma. I would be happy to spend all day cooking. I almost wish that I was going to culinary school next year instead of learning to be a digital editor, which, for the record, I really want to do, it's just that it doesn't involve many fried eggs.

*Puerco*