It’s been a while since I had a good cooking story. And it could be that after you read this, you’ll say, “It’s still been a while since you had a good cooking story.” But I would like to tell you the tale of the hummus.
I have some friends (a married couple) who have an annual movie marathon party at their house. They invite me every year, but so far, I’ve been unable to go. They asked early this time, and I wasn’t busy, so I put the party on my calendar. This year, the theme was Indiana Jones. They planned to watch all the movies…of which I’d seen none. They wanted to theme all the food around his travels. Well of course it’s too much to ask for Mr. Jones to have stayed in normal cities like Chicago or Los Angeles. No….he had to travel the world and stay in places that eat things while said things are still alive.
Allow me to first say that I’m a good cook. I mean, I don’t like to toot my own horn, and I certainly have had my share of culinary disasters, but I love to cook, and I’ve developed a decent amount of skill. But I took one look at the list of country options on the food list for the party and knew I was in big trouble. So I told my friends – why don’t you just tell me what I should make, since I don’t even know what people in these countries eat?
Hummus.
That was my assignment. It seemed vaguely familiar – as though I’d seen an episode of Rachael Ray when hummus was on the menu. That scared me. I watch Rachael Ray all the time – but more out of fascination of what she can do in thirty minutes than actual interest in making what she makes.
I hopped on the Food Network website and found a few hummus recipes. But they called for something called tahini. To me, that’s a bikini in Tahiti. WHAT IS TAHINI? I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT! So I went to someone at work and asked her. Well she didn’t know either, but she informed me of someone else that I know who loves hummus. So I wrote to her. She not only told me about hummus, but she sent me a recipe – which called for the famous tahini. So I wrote back to ask about that. She explained it a little and I felt ready to make hummus.
Problem #1 – I own zero necessary ingredients. So, once payday hit, I went around town gathering ingredients. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I learned all about EVOO from Rachael) - $3.99. 2 cans of garbanzo beans (ick!) - $.47 each. Lemon juice (my jar was about 6 years too old, so I bought new) - $.99. Water – well, as long as the pipes didn’t freeze, that, I had. Salt – check. 4 garlic cloves – no thank you. I’ll use the lovely powder I have in my spice rack. Pita bread to dip in it - $1.24. Carrots to dip in it - $69. Celery to dip in it - $.99. Tahini – DOES NOT EXIST IN MY COUNTY.
I tried Wal-Mart first. No luck. (Big shock.) So I headed to the local supermarket around 9 p.m. in search of tahini. As I walked out the door of my house, I also realized I’d loaded the garlic powder into my new (and fabulous) spice rack, so I no longer had the jar to tell me how much powder equaled a clove. So the first item of business at the supermarket was to ransack the spice aisle until I found a jar that would give me the measurement. With that located, I looked for tahini. No luck.
So I went to the checkout. Mind you, I was the only customer in the store at that hour. Two employees were chatting at the register, so I asked them if they’d heard of tahini. Blank stares. Yeah, I feel that pain. They were so sweet, though, and got out their own personal cell phones and started calling friends AT HOME to look it up online to find out more about it so they could see if they carried it in stock. Now that is service. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. No tahini.
I gave up and went home, determined that the next day would be better. I got up early (we are now to party day) and drove across town to a bigger supermarket. Guess what? No tahini. So I went to the deli and said to the nice lady behind the counter, “Do you sell hummus?” She pointed to a little tub in the corner. THAT is hummus? It was so little! I thought I better buy two. ($5.98).
Determined to use at least ONE of the previously purchased ingredients, I went home and brushed EVOO on the pita bread and toasted the chips in the oven. There. That felt slightly homemade.
Party time came, and I dug the hummus tubs out of my overnight bag. I handed them to Chris and he said to me, “Hey, you cheated! This is a homemade food party.”
Need I explain the glare he received???
So…$14.82 later, I learned something about myself. I hate hummus. The pita bread wasn’t bad, but the hummus – ICK.
I think I’ll stick to spinach dip from now on. I’m much more familiar with things centered around sour cream.
I have some friends (a married couple) who have an annual movie marathon party at their house. They invite me every year, but so far, I’ve been unable to go. They asked early this time, and I wasn’t busy, so I put the party on my calendar. This year, the theme was Indiana Jones. They planned to watch all the movies…of which I’d seen none. They wanted to theme all the food around his travels. Well of course it’s too much to ask for Mr. Jones to have stayed in normal cities like Chicago or Los Angeles. No….he had to travel the world and stay in places that eat things while said things are still alive.
Allow me to first say that I’m a good cook. I mean, I don’t like to toot my own horn, and I certainly have had my share of culinary disasters, but I love to cook, and I’ve developed a decent amount of skill. But I took one look at the list of country options on the food list for the party and knew I was in big trouble. So I told my friends – why don’t you just tell me what I should make, since I don’t even know what people in these countries eat?
Hummus.
That was my assignment. It seemed vaguely familiar – as though I’d seen an episode of Rachael Ray when hummus was on the menu. That scared me. I watch Rachael Ray all the time – but more out of fascination of what she can do in thirty minutes than actual interest in making what she makes.
I hopped on the Food Network website and found a few hummus recipes. But they called for something called tahini. To me, that’s a bikini in Tahiti. WHAT IS TAHINI? I’VE NEVER HEARD OF IT! So I went to someone at work and asked her. Well she didn’t know either, but she informed me of someone else that I know who loves hummus. So I wrote to her. She not only told me about hummus, but she sent me a recipe – which called for the famous tahini. So I wrote back to ask about that. She explained it a little and I felt ready to make hummus.
Problem #1 – I own zero necessary ingredients. So, once payday hit, I went around town gathering ingredients. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I learned all about EVOO from Rachael) - $3.99. 2 cans of garbanzo beans (ick!) - $.47 each. Lemon juice (my jar was about 6 years too old, so I bought new) - $.99. Water – well, as long as the pipes didn’t freeze, that, I had. Salt – check. 4 garlic cloves – no thank you. I’ll use the lovely powder I have in my spice rack. Pita bread to dip in it - $1.24. Carrots to dip in it - $69. Celery to dip in it - $.99. Tahini – DOES NOT EXIST IN MY COUNTY.
I tried Wal-Mart first. No luck. (Big shock.) So I headed to the local supermarket around 9 p.m. in search of tahini. As I walked out the door of my house, I also realized I’d loaded the garlic powder into my new (and fabulous) spice rack, so I no longer had the jar to tell me how much powder equaled a clove. So the first item of business at the supermarket was to ransack the spice aisle until I found a jar that would give me the measurement. With that located, I looked for tahini. No luck.
So I went to the checkout. Mind you, I was the only customer in the store at that hour. Two employees were chatting at the register, so I asked them if they’d heard of tahini. Blank stares. Yeah, I feel that pain. They were so sweet, though, and got out their own personal cell phones and started calling friends AT HOME to look it up online to find out more about it so they could see if they carried it in stock. Now that is service. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. No tahini.
I gave up and went home, determined that the next day would be better. I got up early (we are now to party day) and drove across town to a bigger supermarket. Guess what? No tahini. So I went to the deli and said to the nice lady behind the counter, “Do you sell hummus?” She pointed to a little tub in the corner. THAT is hummus? It was so little! I thought I better buy two. ($5.98).
Determined to use at least ONE of the previously purchased ingredients, I went home and brushed EVOO on the pita bread and toasted the chips in the oven. There. That felt slightly homemade.
Party time came, and I dug the hummus tubs out of my overnight bag. I handed them to Chris and he said to me, “Hey, you cheated! This is a homemade food party.”
Need I explain the glare he received???
So…$14.82 later, I learned something about myself. I hate hummus. The pita bread wasn’t bad, but the hummus – ICK.
I think I’ll stick to spinach dip from now on. I’m much more familiar with things centered around sour cream.
13 comments:
Every New Year's, our supper menu is constructed from another country's popular dishes. The years we did Ireland, Greece, & Australia were great. The year we chose Spain, not so great. You should've seen me & Barry trying to buy bourbon! Then there was the great saffron search. We did eventually find it, but after spending a lot of money for a little saffron, we research ingredients before choosing what we'll eat.
THAT is a smart way to go. I'm not opposed to foods from other countries - but when it reaches the point that the ingredients are non-existent - it is absolutely time to find something different!
I think I NEEDED bourbon after this experience! :) - okay just kidding.
Great food story...and sounds like most of my attempts at cooking.
I'm pretty sure I'd be with you on the hummus. None of the ingredients really made my list of favorites.
Oh and don't be afraid of real garlic...it's not hard to use. (I learned that from Rachel Ray!)
Someday I will branch out and try real garlic. She just does so much slapping around with that big knife. I try not to play with knives too much because it's not safe for me!!! Of course, on Saturday I got a massive curling iron burn on my neck (and now it resembles a hickey) - so maybe I'm just not safe all the way around!
By the way - I tried to call you yesterday but couldn't get through to you or a machine. Didn't want you to think I forgot you!!!
Bekah,
For the garlic, there's no need to go all the way to fresh garlic. You can buy a jar of minced garlic (1 tsp = 1 clove I think), and it NEVER GOES BAD, because garlic has some natural preservative built-in by God. Much better than powder (unless you're making guacamole--use powder for that).
They sell roasted red pepper hummus that's really good. Or garlic & herb hummus. I don't go much for the plain flavor. But hummus is really healthy. Much better than sour cream...
No bourbon at my house, but I do have some cheap whiskey that I bought for the time I was going to sing a solo at church (O Sacred Head Now Wounded) and my voice went south and an opera singer I knew told me to drink lots of tea with whiskey and lemon juice. Between that and prayer, my voice cleared up just in time. Naturally, though, my daughter told the youth group that her mom bought a bottle of whiskey. With no other explanation.
Everything is a learning experience. I'd imagine even Rachel Ray had times when she needed an ingredient that didn't exist where she lived.
This is a good cooking story. You can start your counting to the next one from here.
I will second what Skyepuppy said about the bottled minced garlic. I've used that too and it really is good. I don't know why I forgot about that.
Christina and Skyepuppy - see I always forget about those little jars. I need to expand my grocery store territory!
And skyepuppy - your whiskey story made me laugh hard! I'm sure my work neighbor was wondering what was going on!
I have never heard of it either!
You don't have to make this for Nutz and I if you don't want too.
ohhh I LOVE cooking--i have tons of spices---but none of the tahini. If you lived in Indy you would have found it in many of our ethnic grocery stores. I could have brought some home for you if I came home before the party.
i'm learning so much about tahini (or the lack of it in my fine town). My friend Kristin even sent me a tahini recipe! i could have made my own and had three whole cups of it to preserve for....whatever!
But if it's all the same to you two - maybe we WON'T have that when we have our little party day?
BECAREFUL Driving home tonight Bekah!!! Just take your time and go REALLY slow
Phats - for my whole block home?? I'll go really slow. on days like this i usually walk. it's simpler. but a., did not wear walking worthy shoes, and 2. drove to work. shouldn't ditch the car AT work.
but i will be careful, I promise!!! YOU TOO!!!
I am still in Greentucky, I took today off. I was going to go to basketball sectionals tonight but they were ppd to tomorrow, so now I have to take tomorrow night off too! UGH I HATE SNOW!
I didn't know you lived that close haha have you been walking even in this cold?
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