Pattycake Pattycake

I have a deep deep friggin deep appreciation for doing certain things old-school. Particularly baking and cooking. Yes. I am one of those snobs that sticks their nose in the air when you say "Just use a mix!" because...well this is why:
I grew up in China. Back when it was still in the dark ages. Meaning not much was available that you can readily/easily find in grocery stores here. In fact, go to almost any other country's grocery store and US grocery stores are quite ridiculous and overkill in comparison. As it turned out, having things unavailable was a blessing in disguise. It made my parents creative, resourceful and most everything I ate from age 4 until 14 was made from scratch. We made our own bread, cream cheese (for cheesecake using panty hose), granola, soup, tortillas, apple sauce, peanut butter, pickles, pizza (and we make DARN GOOD pizza)...the list goes on. The only cheese available was goat cheese. And this particular kind of goat cheese does not melt. Hell could freeze over and that cheese would still be a solid form. Wait...that doesn't make sense. But you get what I mean. It doesn't melt. PERIOD. My parents learned to buy mass amounts of Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese while in Thailand or Hong Kong and then we'd freeze it and ration it for as long as we had to. That's all I ever knew. Handmade, homemade, and rationing. And now that I'm older, I've learned that's the way I like things. It takes a little more effort but the result is soooooo worth it. I haven't made my own bread yet but I plan to as well as tortillas. I make cakes and cookies and pies from scratch. I've never used a cake mix in my life and I'm a Nazi when it comes to making my own crust. Pre-made crust is a no-go. For pizza or pie.
Now I have chillaxed in the past few years. Especially since meeting John since he is Mr. Convenience a.k.a. he likes to save time by getting pre-made things. There are times when pre-made is okay and I'll tolerate it.
Last night I made baked chicken spring rolls in hand rolled spring roll wrappers. Overall? Success. The wrappers were harder to make than I thought they'd be. But I KNEW they sounded too easy in the description. The filling was delish and baking vs. frying them made them virtually grease-less. Which is a huge plus in a Marine house hold. This is a perfect example of pre-made being okay with me. Next time I'm planning on just getting wrappers from the store (if they carry them...oh dear). The reason being...I know the pre-made wrappers are better than I can make. Pre-made crust on the other hand...I know I can make better myself.
Being a fairly new wife, I'm learning that I enjoy to cook and bake. I really do. Sometimes when I just don't have time and am running behind in everything for that day, it can be a drag. But usually I truly enjoy it and I love trying to recreate old dishes I remember eating in China (stuffed eggplant...drrrooooooooooooooooooooolllll) and just creating new dishes altogether.
Things I learned while cooking this week:
1. I don't really care for Brussels sprouts unless they're chopped up. But I'm willing to try other ways of making them to find a way I enjoy.
2. I need a stone/marble/granite rolling pin. It doesn't have the handles on the ends and it's slightly thicker in the middle curving to smaller ends. It's hard to explain. It probably costs less than a quarter in China and is sold EVERYWHERE and is present in EVERY Chinese kitchen...yet I cannot find ANY ANYWHERE here. And I need one if I plan on ever attempting spring roll wrappers again.
3. Wild mushrooms bring me to a long forgotten homey place that I miss. Searching through the open air market for unidentifiable mushrooms of every color with my dad. My dad had a deep love for exotic wild mushrooms and would always fry them simply in butter and light herbs. It's all they need. There's so much flavor that's already there.
The end.