Dinner Wars

One daughter's quest to show her mother she can feed herself after moving out. One mother's quest to entice her back home.

[dinnerwars-blog]

Sriracha Wars: Beer, Lime, Sriracha Chicken vs. Turkey Sriracha Meatballs.

When I first started learning how to cook I became obsessed with certain ingredients. I would pick one, and then precede to use it in everything that I cooked for a week or two before moving on to other ingredients. One of these magical ingredients is sriracha. You know what it is even if you've never heard of it before. It comes in a clear bottle with a rooster on the front and usually has a green cap. Sriracha has a more distinct flavor than any other hot sauce I've tried. It is spicy and garlicky and just plain delicious. You may or may not believe that it was a TOTAL ACCIDENT that my mom and I both made sriracha based meals last night, but it is the truth. Serendipitous, no?

Mom's submission: Beer, lime, and sriracha barbecued chicken with a sided of assorted roasted vegetables and whole wheat couscous. Knowing my mom, she wouldn't be able to tell you the proportions of her chicken marinade ("Until it looks right!") but the vegetables were oven roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper, and probably garlic. Credit must be given where credit it due: my dad was the one that barbecued the chicken:

Isn't it beautiful?

My submission: Turkey Sriracha Meatballs. This recipe is so easy and delicious it is unbelievable. It is from a website called Budget Bytes and I use it a lot. The recipes are incredibly easy to follow and they are all budget friendly, not to mention wickedly delicious. I highly recommend visiting the website and buying the recently released cookbook. You can find the recipe listed there. 

The verdict: Mom wins!

Except I had SANGRIA. Nothing can beat sangria!

Happy Eating!

[dinnerwars-blog]

My Mother's Cooking

My mother is a fantastic cook. And it has caused me problems my whole life. Eating dinner at friend's houses were never special and most restaurants failed to compete. But the most significant challenge that I've faced was moving out of my parents house. 

I love my mother, but (mom you'll forgive me for saying this) she doesn't have the most nurturing personality in the world. Any time I tried to cook at home it turned into a huge disaster, usually with both of us crying by the end, so I didn't really start to cook until I moved into my own apartment in New York City two years ago. Here I was faced with a dilemma, I could order wildly expensive take-out food every night or I could learn to feed myself. I'm a public school teacher so take-out every night isn't practical or affordable, but I couldn't just exist on Kraft Mac and Cheese either. My mother's cooking haunted me. If I was going to cook at all, I needed to cook well. 

Even though my initial cooking attempts ended badly, I soon found that cooking wasn't that hard, and that I was actually pretty darn good at it. All of my friends were surprised, how did I get so good so quickly? At my house, the kitchen was always the heart and even though I didn't do much cooking, I spent a lot of time there talking to my mom as she cooked. My only explanation is that I must have picked up some of her skills through osmosis. The rest is as much a mystery to me as it is to everyone else. 

As time went on, I began to be less frustrated with my mother's instructions, (or lack thereof: "I don't know how much, until it looks right!!") and was so proud of my efforts that I started sending off pictures to my mom to prove that I wasn't starving to death. And then she began to respond with pictures of her own. Thus, Dinner Wars was born. The rules are simple: whoever cooked the best dinner that night wins. Dinners out and delivery don't count. Extra-points if its an original recipe (this is where my mom has the advantage). Hopefully everyone winds up well-fed either way. 

Happy Eating!