Cooking 101

[halfpint]

Now, being a widower for the last 2.5 years and having young girls at home, cooking is of particular interest to me.  I decided to make it a hobby instead of a chore.  This year I decided to try my hand at baking.  Today I'm baking shortbread cookies.  The recipe said to whip the butter until it was "fluffy".  I don't know what fluffy looks like (no bad jokes here guys).  I got it what I thought looked like "wavy" then stopped, didn't want to overdue it.  Any idea if my wavy was actually fluffy??  Let's see if we have any other cooks on here.

Alan

[David E]

Halfpint

Whip the butter until it resembles snow in texture. Try to do this quickly as shortbread results get worse and worse if the butter mix gets too warm 

[Bee964]

Halfpint,

Will you be sending all of us samples?

Dave C

[halfpint]

That depends on how well they turn out  just waiting for the cinammon cookies to come out of the oven!

[Arnold]

Ahhh ... Cooking !
I also was alone for about one and a half year's and survived my own Cooking quite well . Note , that I never Cooked much at all ( except Breakfast ) . But as of now , it is so much Fun to Cook and learn new things from my LaoPo or it is just being close and next to her ? We too have started to Bake and this was a total zero from my part .. til now . Our Friends love our Cakes , that we Bake with Love  .

[halfpint]

Great feedback, and great looking cakes, love it.  Well I asked my oldest girl to rate the cookies on a scale of 1 to 5.  She ranked the shortbread at 700 million catrilion ( i have no idea how to spell that, its a little more than i make), and the cinnamon at 699 million catrilion.  Success!  I guess I whipped the butter to the right state, cause those shortbread cookies literally melted in our mouths, they were good.

Perhaps I'm ready to try a cake, that should be fun!

Alan

[David E]

Haha...you learners !!!

I have been on my own for 11 years now, and I always cook for myself. I dont eat much take-out junk food.

I learned to cook a lot of Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian and Indian dishes.

This year it is my turn to do the complete Xmas dinner for the family and close friends....heavy day in the kitchen on the 25 th !!!

When Ming gets here ...I am going to have a big break from cooking.....I hope 

[halfpint]

David

That is awesome.  I don't like take out food, I rarely do it. It's not that good, it's not healthy.  My youngest daughter has a severe alleregy to peanuts, nuts and shellfish, so It's not a good option for me.  I have cooked some ethnic meals, chinese, thai, mexican.  You can have a lot of fun and eat really well when you try different foods.  I cook a chinese hot and sour soup that my girls just love, its one of their favourite meals.  I have a freezer of nice steaks, most of which turn into stir-frys, thats what my girls prefer to eat, and I do to.  It's a fun way to cook and eat.

Alan

[halfpint]

So I cooked a pot of Shanghai noodles tonight, I had some leftover stir fry in the frisdge.  Took the pot of noodles off the burner and put the stir fry on the burner.  Problem was, the stir fry was still in the plastic container...it was ugly.  I don't know if this was worse than the time I pureed some asparagus soup in the blender, thought the blender was leaking and decided to twist the bottom to tighten it up.  Yeah, pureed soup all over the floor.  I think that was worse!