Look, Ma! I Can Cook!

All right, blogosphere. I've been pretty late in making this announcement, initially because I was too afraid of jinxing my rickety plans. And then I didn't blog about it because I was too busy being busy executing the plans. And now, as I sit in a t-shirt & my underwear on a lazy Saturday afternoon, the plans have been successfully carried out, there's nothing left to jinx, I'm clearly not busy &, therefore, it's announcement time.

I MOVED!

As you all know, I've lived since October 2007 in an apartment that lacks a kitchen, something I mention at every opportunity possible (like here, here, here, here & here). I've spent 19 months draining pasta cooked in a hot pot into the toilet, a fact of which I'm not exactly proud - except a little, because hey, that's resourceful. Still, it made for difficult when I considered entertaining.

Now, though, the wait & the complaints are over: I HAVE A KITCHEN!

Do you hear the angels singing?

I'm still living in a studio, but this one's got a little kitchen off to one side - including a real kitchen sink! So what have I done to break in my long-awaited luxury? Cooked, of course!

On day one, as I waited for my friends to come help me move my furniture in, I whipped up pesta pasta with chipotle meatballs, my very first dish in the new place:


Final product, with the meatballs only slightly charred:


But I didn't have any furniture yet, so I had to eat it balanced on my knees as I sat on the floor. Classy!


That pasta lasted my the next couple of days, saving me lunch money & keeping me content. Yesterday, I finally went on my first I-have-a-kitchen grocery shopping spree, for which I actually used a shopping cart, despite knowing that I'd have to carry home everything I purchased:


After carrying home at least 25 pounds of groceries & nearly tearing my arms off my body from the weight of the grocery bags, I got to work baking these:


I haven't made cupcakes for... well, I don't know that I've ever made cupcakes, actually, so I wasn't sure how high to fill the muffin tins full of batter. As soon as I popped them in, I began to fear they'd bubble over the edges, causing a lemonade cupcake explosion in my brand new oven. A Twitter follower suggested that "Lemon Cupcake Explosion" might make for a nice all-girl punk-pop band name.



Alas, they did not explode, & I frosted them happily. The end result? Strawberry lemonade cupcakes that I've had to force myself not to eat as they wait to be taken to a friend's birthday BBQ.

And finally, not done testing out my culinary acumen, I created some vegetarian quesadillas for lunch/dinner. These, too, have carried over into leftovers that have made me quite happy this afternoon:


It's safe to say I've caught the cooking bug. If you've got an beginners recipes I can try out, shoot me an email at suburbansweetheart@gmail.com.