Confession… I’m not a very good cook. If you know me and you disagree, then you have probably only eaten one of the three things I can make: pesto pasta with vegetables, chocolate pumpkin bread, and in college I made a good stir fry, but that was a while ago… so no promises that I could recreate it now. Oh and I make good molasses cookies…. But those are pretty hard to mess up.
There are quite a few foodies and exceptional chefs here at Citizen Pictures and Base2 Studios. Lunch is often more of a display of masterpieces than a mid-day food break. I try to make my leftover pesto pasta visible to everyone at the table when I bring it in for lunch, hoping it will cover the memories of my caramel rice cake and peanut butter (which I think is delicious!) and whatever I microwaved the day before. I’ve learned a lot about food and the art of cooking since I started at Citizen- between working on Food Network shows, shooting food focused webisodes, and sitting next to some rockin producers who are researching and producing a new show about food artisans and their creations, I have a new outlook on the world of good food and fine cooking. Cooking has always been something I’ve enjoyed and I love an exceptionally prepared meal, but I don’t believe I have truly appreciated all that goes into making an exquisitely delicious dish until now.
I have the opportunity at Citizen to work on Giada at Home. I spent three weeks last year in LA on set seeing just what goes into making the show- and the food. I have one word to describe the experience: WOW. Not only was the production of the show and food astounding to witness (and the whole crew and culinary team outstandingly talented), but I can honestly say every dish I tasted was out of this world. Giada’s calm and elegant work in the kitchen makes cooking these dishes look pretty easy… but for an amateur like me, it might be a different story. However, I am truly inspired to learn this creative art.
Giada just released her new cook book entitled Giada at Home. So here is what I’m ambitiously planning… I am going to jump in head first and just start cooking with the hopes that my skills will improve with each recipe. I’ll choose recipes from Giada’s new book. (Side Note: yes. I know what you are thinking. Didn’t you just see a movie kind of like this? I do love Julie and Julia and was completely inspired by the idea of it. However, I don’t have the time or the budget to commit to something like that. Basically I figured I love working on Giada at Home and I want to improve my cooking skills… so what a perfect way to combine the two! I also like to write AND this blog is a great way to tell the stories of my little cooking adventures! Perfect.) So anyways…It will be far from formal training, but it will be something and it will be fun. I love the beauty and the color that Giada captures in her dishes and am so fond of the idea that food can be visual stunning and delicious. I’m really excited about this.
Alright good. Step 1 done: I have a cookbook with recipes I would like to try making. Yay. So my game plan is: I’ll choose recipes on a whim and just do my best and see what happens. Sometimes I’ll make food for other people and sometimes just for myself. I’ll write here and tell the story of how it went. Remembering this is coming from the girl who set off the smoke alarm the first time she cooked in her new apartment… I’m sure this experience will be nothing short of entertaining!
Mallory Potock