Cooking, what a mess!

Of the many things my father is, he is definitely not a cook. I much prefer my mother’s cooking to his, which, many times, turn out too salty, too bland, too sour, too burnt, too smelly, too interesting, or downright weird and disgusting. One thing I dislike is wasting ingredients, especially for a hopeless venture.

Just today, I looked into the refrigerator and told my dad, “Could you eat the two slices of yellow cheese left?” They were individually wrapped fat-free cheddar cheese. I never liked them, because unlike the normal type of cheese that has fat, the fat-free kind seemed a bit like jelly and it melted much faster in the microwave than the normal kind. Since my father is the garbage can of the family, he usually finished what no other member in the family wanted, which I don’t think is a great idea, but that’s another subject for another day. Thus, my father agreed and he remarked, “I think cheese and potatoes would be good.”

When I heard this, I imagined melted cheese on baked potatoes. That was new for our family, but such a recipe wasn’t unheard of. Therefore, I was pretty surprised when dinner came and I walked down the stairs, commenting, “What’s this smell? Is it bao zi (buns)?” Oh, no, of course it wasn’t. My father decided to experiment and made potato and cheese soup. This one sounded bad.

I stood over the table and stared at the bowl with its liquid mixture and chunky not-peeled, but cut potatoes. It was a…pale, sickly yellow with white potatoes bobbing up and down, as if they wanted to hop out of the concoction, too.

Throughout the meal, I didn’t touch the soup at all. I knew I would either have a tough time keeping it down, or my stomach would just feel queasy all the rest of the evening if I dared drink a bowl. So I quickly finished my rice with some tofu, ate an orange, and left the table.

I don’t want to say that I don’t like experimentation. I really do–I welcome all types of food. But I have to say…when you create something, make sure you can imagine the taste before trying something out. Melted cheese (the type of cheese meant for sandwiches) in boiled water with potatoes…I don’t know; it might just be me, but I’m not dying for a meal like that.