I've Learned to Cook

Tacos. Spaghetti. Enchiladas. Pulled Pork. Fajitas.

And that's about it.

Before moving to Paraguay over two years ago, those were our meals.  Week and and week out, that's what we ate.

Over and over again.

I can't believe we still like those things.

In all likely-hood there are probably other meals that could be added to that list, but those were my go-to's.  And with one of us being in school one night a week, throw in a date night, a dinner out with friends, school event . . . that got us through the week.

Needless to say I had to pick it up a bit when we got here.

What do you mean there isn't Rice-a-Roni? No Hamburger helper either? And no cream-of-anything soups?

The first meal I cooked in our apartment at ACA was bad. Plain white rice (and not even the "good" rice...I didn't know there was a difference) and some chicken with generic "chicken seasoning" sprinkled on top.  Not make-you-want-to-order-out bad, but the rice just tasted dirty and I definitely should have used more seasoning on the chicken.

Flash forward two years.

I have learned SO much.

I can make my own enchilada sauce (yes, we still eat them from time to time).

When a recipe calls for pre-packaged biscuits, I just make my own from scratch and go from there.

Fried chicken? Got it.

I can identify herbs by the shape of their leaves (and their aroma).

I know which spices are stronger (or weaker) here in Paraguay and adjust the amounts accordingly.

1 cup brown sugar = 1 cup white sugar + 1 Tablespoon molasses

If I don't have all the ingredients called for, I know which ones are necessary and which ones are "just" for flavor (and how to compensate).

Melted butter = oil (how did I not know that?)

I'm not a gourmet cook by any means and I still have to refer to my recipe cards for 95% of the meals that I make, but even then, I've gone from copying down full fledged sentence instructions to simple lists of ingredients with brackets and numbers indicating what order in which to combine which ingredients.

More than anything, I'm not afraid.   I know what we like and I have the confidence to try new things.  Thank you, Paraguay, for expanding my cooking repertoire and giving more variety to our weekly menus!