"Kitchens are the PITS!!"

            I avoid cooking.  I do this so as to avoid any unintentional murders.  My family really sees this as the better option so when for class it was required that I cook we made sure that I did it at home.  Any possible outcome of disaster could be avoided or handled better at home rather then in a small apartment provided by the school.  We also discussed how simplicity was key.  My sister was put in charge of picking the recipe that would be used.  She based her decision off of how easy and quick it is stated as being so she used her handy little Food Network app and found penne pasta with almond sauce.  The recipe can be found at this link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/penne-in-almond-sauce-recipe/index.html

First: Ingredients

We practically had all of the ingredients already floating around in our kitchen, well except for the almonds and Parmesan cheese.  Although crucial, neither one of these is overly difficult to find.  So for the first step this was looking pretty good! 

Second: Preparation

This is where it starts to get a little bit difficult.  First let me say that I really have never used a recipe before or cooked; this is my disclaimer for any shame worthy action I may make.  My sister was diligently hovering in the background as the safety measure in this experiment, but she also was explaining how to do things like get a clove of fresh garlic.  I didn’t know that you had to rip it off and then pound on it with the flat part of a knife to get the skin off.  I thought you just used what you pulled!  After the tutorial in garlic, we put all of the other ingredients in our blender.  I was just putting stuff in the blender when Brooke freaked out.  I didn’t know that there were measurements telling you how much to use of each ingredient.  By this point Brooke was cursing this assignment!  I successfully proceeded to get all of the ingredients inside the blender and even blended without any collateral damage.  Before my lesson in garlic, I had taken Brooke’s pasta pot and filled it with water and turned the stove on to boil it for the pasta portion.  Now I needed to add another object to the stove; this is where it could get tricky and dangerous.  I took our largest skillet and put the blended almond mixture into it on a medium heat so that it would thicken and become a sauce.  I was overly paranoid about everything that I kept stirring almost the entire time.  I did step away to learn how to get my lemon zest and I still don’t understand how this does anything but it was required so I added it.   When the water was at a boil I added the salt.  I am pretty sure I added too much because I just poured…a lot and then I added the pasta.  Now my ambidextrous abilities were shown because I had to stir both the sauce and the pasta now.  The pasta didn’t take very long to cook and Brooke had to taste it to tell me when it was done.  After I had drained the pasta and placed it in our large bowl I put the cheese on it.  I love cheese, so I just added all of it.  I then added the thickened almond sauce and mixed it all together.

Third: Eating

I forced all of my family to eat it, and I mean all of my family, even the dogs.  I put just a little bit in each of our dog’s bowls.  The end product was not that bad.  Our blender isn’t the best so the texture was grainy from the almonds, but if you could get past that, it was delicious.  However, I will honestly say though that I will not be cooking again.  It is far to nerve wracking for everyone involved and the finished product could taste so much better in most circumstances.