"You Can Always Order Pizza"

My friend Carolyn invited me over for dinner tonight. Then it turned into just drinks. So I brought over some leftovers and took her beer and we talked on her front porch. It was a really great night for talking and a really great night for porch sitting. Those are two of my favorite things. 

About 2 weeks ago I asked Carolyn to help me become a better cook. This future RD works at Whole Foods and has culinary skills to boot. She also has two rules when it comes to cooking: 

1. Test it out on friends first. Or was it, if you can read, you can follow a recipe? And,

2. You can always order pizza.

...She has only had to order pizza one time. 

A pretty good track record considering she has cleaned out her pantry, in preparation for her move to DC for her dietetic internship, and the items on her kitchen table waiting to be used were:
 

1. Veggiemite aka Marmite aka yeast extract,

2. Bamboo shoots,

3. Dried prunes (which I attacked!),

4. Dry wasabi peas,

5. Enough sauces to suggest she was from a foreign country,

6. Everything else that was unpronounceable or too culinary for my skill level. 

I’m signing up for a Carolyn cooking lesson this week. And I’m sure I will steal more of her beer while I’m there. And with the ingredients listed above, my skills, and my beer stealing-ness…It is very possible that Carolyn may have to repeat her second rule.