Sunday, December 12, 1999

chef of the day

I had to prepare a nutritionally balanced meal for my family as part of the final project for cooking class. This was a daunting task as I had never cooked for anyone else before. But I guess I shouldn't complain, considering that my mother has to do this on an almost daily basis!

For the project, I decided to do a three-course dinner consisting of an appetizer, entrée and dessert. It wasn't just me and my parents as our family friend Ray was also here. One of our building contractors also came, although he didn't eat anything as he was mainly here to discuss our remodeling plans.

I made nachos with cheddar cheese for the appetizer. While my parents rarely eat this stuff, they really enjoyed my nachos. I had originally planned to make fettuccine alfredo for the main entrée as it was my favorite recipe from the class, but Mrs. Andersen recommended against it because the nachos were already high in fat. For those who aren't familiar with Italian cuisine, alfredo sauce is one of the worst offenders when it comes to calories. I ultimately settled upon beef and bean burritos; they weren't a bad choice because everybody loved them, especially with the generous fillings!

The meal ended with an Irish dessert called apple fluff, which I made using a recipe from an issue of Kids Discover. The dish took an unusually long time to bake because I didn't separate the egg yolk from the egg white properly during the preparation, but it still turned out well enough. Ray even stayed past 10:00 p.m. for a taste!

All of the food was accompanied by freshly squeezed orange juice. On the whole, I'd say just about everything went according to plan. Ray and my parents gave me great feedback, and I'm quite proud of myself for being able to make this big meal. I realize this will become an everyday occurrence when I have my own wife and kids, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. :P

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