Poor Food Choices

Sometimes when I'm hungry (read: always) and the kitchen is bare I do ridiculous, misguided things with food.

Example: I was living in Budapest but hadn't yet gotten the hang of grocers closing up shop Saturday afternoon and not reopening until Monday morning. I was used to 24 hour food access. So I forgot to stock the cupboard and lo and behold, by Sunday night I was desperate. So. I made pancakes. Except all I had was flour and water and salt. Come and get 'em!

Example 2: I once cooked a package of pasta by frying it instead of boiling and then frying (the latter option is delicious). It was a hunger-induced mistake. Don't ever do this. I ate about 2/3 of the results before a housemate intervened on behalf of my stomach.

Example 3: Limes + old tortillas + serrano chiles does not equal "casserole". Nuf said.

My other trouble is that I keep trying to bake even though I'm no baker. I shouldn't really migrate from the stove top. It's that I try to bake the way I cook, and I never cook with a plan. I constantly fuss with the food (because I'm impatient and hungry) and add additional ingredients, and then throw in leftovers, and then add more cumin, and then decide an egg would add some protein, and then maybe throw in some chile peppers, to "liven it up"... and it usually works out ok when I'm cooking, but that's not the way to bake, it would seem.

So, this brings me to Example 4. I've been going through a crisis this week because I really want cookies but I have no butter. I can't find any butter in San Juan, because it's a luxury item and all they sell is lard and margarine, and I'm on my snobby high horse this week and don't want margarine cookies. Actually I did make margarine cookies, and I ate them (of course I did!), but I was left disappointed because for some reason the margarine flavor, at least the kind for sale in the shop next door, just puts me off. So, snobbery admitted, I wanted non-margarine cookies.

I found a no-butter cookie recipe that seemed quite good. I almost managed to follow the recipe, and the cookies turned out almost really good. But I made so much that I had leftover batter. No problem, save it for later. Until later: I get hungry, think "I'll make some more of those banana almond cookies" and decide that I'll throw in the leftover french toast mix with the cookie batter (start shaking your head here), because milk and eggs and cinnamon are tasty, right? And then it's too liquid-y, so I toss in a handful of flour and some ground almonds, and some chocolate shavings and some more cinnamon and stir it up and then throw in some salt, because salt makes anything taste good (no it doesn't) and then mix it up and pour it on a cookie sheet and think I'm so, so clever. (Continue to shake your head.)

And yes, I'm eating the results right now. I wouldn't say "good", but I would say "it's a good think I resisted 'livening them up' with chiles".

It's not quite an apple pie substitute, but... I'm now finishing off the last one, so I suppose this wasn't a complete flop.

I guess I need to learn to always begin preparing food before I reach hunger-crisis moment. Or have more snacks on hand. And maybe to just stay away from the oven.