Urgent Help!

So, you are off to uni in the fall eh? Congratulations.

Before you go there to educate your mind, spend some time in the summer educating your palette (sp?) Seriously, you are missing out on so much by limiting yourself to only a few things to eat (and most of them bad for you by the sound of it!) Your question is nearly impossible to answer since we don't know what skill levels you have and what cooking facilities are available to you. I would suggest a trip to the book store to browse some books and get ideas. I suspect you don't like some of the things you "don't like" because you have convinced yourself you don't. Try a more Zen approach and open your mind.

Good luck at school.

Jock

Now I don't know if you a lad or a lassie. If you are serious about your education, however, I know that wo/man does not live by bean alone.

One cannot survive in a serious academic enviroment unless the body remains a support to the head. The head is supposed to stay upright, you know, it's that roundish thing superior to the neck. An interesting appendage to the body, one will die if it is removed, and this can be involuntary, as in the case of various tragic and blameless queens, or voluntary, as in your case. You are not fussy. This denotes a person of strangely perdantic ideas. Or even compulsion. Don't go there. It is self serving at best, and a realiably good way to ruin other people lives.

So! this old lady is telling you, you are lazy. Now what will happen if you are lazy at your study. You will fail. That is what will happen. You will fail. You will be a failure, and a voluntary one at that. Truly shocking. And if you do not feed your body, it will fail too. Then your head will droop, and fall off.

It is neither clever or original to bully people with food. What, and the range of foods you eat will allow you to reflect your vitality and genuine enthusasim for your studies. It is your choice. Make it.

I think you're looking more for ideas, not recipes. Try the food and cooking questions forum.

What kinds of fast food do you like? There is a huge variety of fast food. From hamburgers to fish-n-chips, to salads, etc. Saying that you eat "fast food" doesn't really tell us much. First thing I would do is go to your local library and pick up a few cookbooks and start experimenting. Start with the fast foods you like and find healthier versions of them. From there move on to other things. With the limited amount of information you gave us it really is very hard to figure out where to even start helping you. You say you are a very "fussy" eater, but then only list a few things you don't like. If those are your only real dislikes then a world of food is before you. Here is just a small list (barely scratches the surface):
Stir-fries
Salads
Rice Dishes
Stews
Chicken (grilled, sauteed, fried, turned into chicken salad)
Seafood, from shrimp to tuna and everything in between
Asian foods
Mexican foods

I can't even begin to think where to even start to help you without more information about your likes and dislikes. But I will tell you this, you need to overcome this "fussiness" or you are going to always find yourself with limited options. We all have our likes and dislikes, but when it starts to impose upon our lives then it is time to re-evaluate.

Diane,
From on old lady, to another, I think you are right on! I was logged on when the young man made his post and started to respond, but wasn't sure I could contain my response. I have successfully raised my flock (successful defined as well rounded, competant to care for self and compete in and conquer the world, hard working, open minded) and a couple of others, plus a delightful young grandson 12 years of age who has traveled with me at all opportunity; opens a menu in any type of restaurant he is in and says, "What haven't I tried?" After all, nothing like a new experence in life.

But mine (and I bet yours, also) were raised to understand that by constantly justifing their own short comings instead of working at them, and by not expanding their horizons, they would limit their own opportunities in life. Such as expecting the university to except bad grammer and not having a plan to improve it. An employer will have expectations and will not have a tolerance for the self justifiying. An appetite for fast food maybe applicable, as this young man may not be able to afford much else, without deciding to apply himself to some accepting of critics and new horizons.

Thank you, NowIamalone. It was not my intention to be patronising, I consider that a waste of time. And, frankly, I do not have the ego for it. I guess it is a wake up call to someone who presented themselves as frightfully precious. That, too, is a choice. I once had a patient who insisted on 11 cornflakes for her breakfast (among other things). She would count them. I will leave it to your imagination how I handled this. But it was fun, for both of us. Eventually.

I cannot imagine what our "urgent" poster required from us. The 'statements' of acceptabily have already been made. What are we supposed to say? Buttered/garlic snails on toast? Toasted lettuce.

Nor enter into some sort of dialougue that supports whining stupidity. I hate to sound so hard, because I am not. But I will not support foolishness. But really you know, as I do, that college life might sort out a lot of kinks. There is nothing like being hungry to refine acceptance of food. 'Not liking' something most of the mortals out in the real world do not have the luxury of deciding. Which is why they eat wide and well, Urgent poster. I sincerely hope you will too, because such preciousness will leak into other parts of your your life to, and honestly, most people just cannot be bothered. It is all about choice. OOze into the campus if you want to. But far better to show a fresh and eager face to the living conditions, so different from home. Go for it man.

...and as a separate post, I wish to answer your statement. "are you going to call all men/boys lazy now". well, well, well. I can only give you the benefit of the doubt on such an amazing offering. I have a husband of 33 years. Not so long I admit, we married later in life. I have two sons and a daughter, she is the oldest, 30 years. All are excellent cooks. They have their preferences of course. We all do. But with none of them is it fast food.

I found this remark offensive. To call any male I know 'lazy' is offensive. I don't know 'males' or families that are lazy. I don't care for whiners, or those that use the medium for an excuse. Those 'significant others' who are male have all achieved very significantly, as both my daughter and I have. You are young, make it work for you, without all this nonsence. You are worth it, we both know that. Now, get going.

Diane, I have to say that while we all have our opinions and are entitled to them, your remarks in this post are condecending and judgemental not to mention just downright rude!
I have little tollerance for picky eaters (who in my opinion are created, not born) but to characterize ptdurk as lazy simply by virtue of his eating habits is really not justified.
I am a very opinionated old man but I don't think that gives me license to berate younger people I do not know and who were not raised as I was.

Jock

Diane, if you want to blame anyone for being lazy, blame this guy's mother or father or whoever raised him. He learned his eating habits from them and they were well established years ago. Now the guy sees his problem and seems to want to attempt to do something about it, and you show up with this self-righteous attitude.

Ptdurk, I would really re-evaluate your likes and dislikes. How many of those dislikes are based on assumptions or on trying a food once or twice? When I first met my wife she was a pretty unadventurous eater. There were a lot of things "she didn't like". But I re-introduced her to many of those foods and she found that she either had outgrown her dislike for something or had disliked it because it was made poorly or made in a way she didn't like. She used to hate lamb and now really likes it, fish (though she still doesn't like salmon) she wouldn't touch but now really likes most seafood. The list goes one.

Sorry, I can't really give you recipes, but start playing, experiementing in the kitchen. But the most important thing is to go into this experimenting with an open mind. If you say you "hate rice" you always will. Try making rice in a different way and allow yourself the chance to like. If you don't then fine, but don't shut the door on it until you have tried a few possibilities.

Thank you for your response Jock. It is well read (by me) and appreciated as another opinion. I would take issue with a comment or two you made however. It is neither rude nor condescending for me to make my remarks. I have nowhere to descend from. I merely consider myself a Mark 1 mother, and a very good one at that. Forget the Doctorates and all that, common sense will always be common sense. It cannot be otherwise.

And to shore up inappropriate diet or opinion is just simply wrong. And I will not do it. We are all subject to unkind labels these days. If one has to defend an indefensible position, one will always resort to name calling. This method is older than the Greeks, even those before them. Long before them. A fairly reliable method with the gullible. But cheap to any with interlect of any stature. So where does that leave us?

I believe it leaves us with our individual opinions. I will remain interested in your recipes for our 'urgent' young man. And jolly good on you, I am in awe.

I will start off.

Take cut up bacon, chopped onion, and anything else you feel is appropiate.
Fry them together, in a pot.
Introduce skinned or canned tomatoes.
Add the cooked twisted spag. don't know what is is called.
S&P and a bit of soy or worsty sauce. Mix and enjoy.

See now, Jock, how I am prepared to take the blame. Isn't it funny. ;Þ

Ah - Ha, Pete has ventured into the potential morasse. How brave, noble even. But still no recipes which our urgent gentleman requested initially. Where to turn? Where to hide? How to cope? Well, I don't know. But I am quite certain that our precious little darling will not starve. Unless he wants to of course.

Hey, Diane, you forgot to squish up a ham and lettuce sandwich and chuck it in.

Honestly though,

Why doesn't Durk just ask his mom for ideas? Picky eaters are made, not born and I'm guessing she's a rotten cook.

My first gut reaction was that he's coming at the world like ordering at Mom's Cafeteria. My reaction is ... 'wha?'...(need an icon with one eyebrow raised into scalp)

JEEZ! We use EVERYTHING and put stuff in recipes in combinations that don't even sound edible! (I draw the line at snails- don't care what you call them)

I've raised 3 kids, all LOVED salad, all kinds of veggies and different types of cuisines (my oldest at 10 yo loved HOT szechuan tofu and pork) because that's what I fed them. They watched me cook (like I did with my Grandma) and saw how much fun it was preparing all kinds of wonderful food. It's pretty simple. None of this 'I DONNNNN LIEEEEEKKKK ITTTT' stuff.

I had a BF that had a son like that. Annoying as **** little poop bucket. And his big biker dad would be peeling toppings off of pizza or actually wiping the sauce off (once he rinsed it in the sink out of frustration!) of a McDonald's hamburger while this little rug rat would be bitching and screaming about not wanting to eat it "because he didn't like it". Yeah, it was special...

He was a totally spoiled, totally unappreciative ingrate and its learned.

That said, I agree that it was unclear as to what what being requested here. Yes, it does sound lazy on your part. It sounded like you wanted to be force fed ideas. You don't just hop on a forum and place an order. (I don't like cheese or pasta <?> <even though pasta is just spaghetti with different shapes>) Why can't you hit the library (they do still make books and a lot of cookbooks have pictures if that will help) or sites for recipes and go from there. I mean, you like garlic? No garlic? Lots of pepper? What kind of pepper? What spices? (there are hundreds) How in blue blazes are we supposed to know that?

I agree with Diane. You sound like you are completely unprepared to make your own decisions about what you eat. And if I had to guess it sounds like you are trying to replace mom telling you what to eat.

If you can't get your head around a recipe how are you going to make it through school? (God please don't say he's studying to be a doctor!)

Nobody here can help you decide what you do and don't want to eat, nor am I personally inclined to want to cater to your food idiosyncracies unless you want to pay me for what I do. (We are, after all, in the food business?)

I'll send you an entire cookbook with all kinds of recipes geared completely to your palate, but you'll have to pay me $30 per hour for my expertise.

April :bounce:

ptdurk

Jock gave you good advice. If you decide to follow it, while you're at the book store, I suggest you consider buying a broadly comprehensive book that doesn't require a lot of prior knowledge. I strongly recommend either "Joy of Cooking" or "How to Cook Everything." You'll find either of these helpful right away and equally useful when you're making recommendations to your own college age kids.

Good luck

ptdurk,

I find it ironic that anyone who calls themself a "fussy eater" eats mostly fast food. ;)

I agree with the above advice especially from Jock and Pete. Eating preferences are definitely established at early ages. It's a shame that with all the choices we have, some families only "like what they like" and eat it week after week without ever trying anything "different".

Be brave, expand your horizons by educating yourself and your palette by trying new things. If you don't like something, figure out why you don't like it. Sometimes the flavor is fine but the texture disagrees with you. Is it too dry? Too moist? Too much of one thing? Too well done? Not done enough? Too big? Too small?

A home cooked steak from an excellent cut of organic meat is going to be miles away from most restaurant cooked steaks that are going to be drowning in brine. Try making one so you know what real meat tastes like.

You say you like ham and lettuce.
What brand of ham? Oscar Meyer or Smithfield? Sliced thin? or in chunks?
What varieties of lettuce? Head Lettuce? Romaine? Butter Crunch? Deer Tounge? Lollo Rosso? Forellenschluss?

What kind of beans and how are they prepared? Pork and beans? Green beans? Yard Long beans? Butterbeans? Northern White Beans? Refried Beans? Lima Beans? Kentucky Wonder Beans?

Spaghetti? As in Chef Boyardee? Dried semolina? Fresh semolina?

Bacon? What kind? Locally cured? Farmland? Plumrose? Hickory smoked? Honey Maple? Peppered? Thick? Thin?

Sweet Corn? From a can? From a frozen package? On the cob from the grocery store produce section? Hand picked the same day from the farmer's market? Hand picked from your own garden?

Chicken? White meat? Dark meat? Thigh? Wing? Hot wings? Boiled? Fried? Baked? Roasted? On a sandwich? In a salad? Grilled?

I know you feel your spaghetti, bacon, and corn are healthy but spaghetti and corn are typically going to be mostly starch. Bacon can have a lot of fat with it. What about bread? What about fresh broccoli? Artichokes? Asparagus? Brussels Sprouts?

If you don't like "pasta", how is the "pasta" prepared? What shapes are they? Most "pasta" is going to be created from exactly the same dough that was used to create the spaghetti so if you like spaghetti, you should like other pasta if it's cooked and prepared the same way as the spaghetti you like. The only difference is in the shape which both changes the texture as well quantity of sauce that gets to your mouth.

Cucumbers? Do you like pickles on your hamburger? Do you eat hot dogs with relish?

Tomatoes? From the grocery store? From a farmer's market? Heirloom? Raw? Cooked? Does your spaghetti have tomato sauce?

What dishes do you make that you eat and what ingredients are in them?

Try going to AllRecipes.com and inputting ingredients you have that you want to cook with and see what results it returns. Read the ingredients, read the member reviews thoroughly, check the ratings. Try something new, experiment, learn...

:chef:

April, April, I adore you... ;Þ Well Urgent, I couldn't cook at 17 either. My mother would not let me near the kitchen except to clean. So what did I do when I was released onto the unsuspecting world. I moved into a nurses home, were we were given 3 square and evening tea or milo. But for all the culinary ease of the time, I read. I read because I knew the food they gave us was substandard, as is the popular concept of 'fast food' now. But fast food can be a good slice of ham, a mixed salad, and a slice of really good bread and butter. On the plate in less than 60 seconds. In those days, Mid 60s, there was very little in the way of cooking tomes, even in the library. No internet of course, recourse to information was limited. As were many ingredients at that time. It wouldn't have been so in your country, but it was here. The average range in the first supermarket here, mid 60s, was 8000, now it is 80,000. Walk the isles of y'r supermarkets. Look at ingredients, read the labels. Evaluate the worth of that product to the wellbeing of your body.

In NZ, as I suppose in other places, the fresh stuff is around the perimeter of the supermarket. Walk, look and drool. The startling range of veggies. glorious in their colour and variety always makes me wish I brought a large pot and primus to start a veggie soup Right Then. One can always take a short nip back to the meat counter and add meat of choice, might as well nick a crusty loaf for dipping too. Cooking is easy, cooking well is easy. It is just the idea that is not. This isn't cured with pills and physic. This is cured with open minded enthusiam, wide reading, and a will to change things for the better for yourself.

ptdurk, not to put words in Diane's mouth but if I understand it correctly, what she is saying is that this cooking thing takes time and effort and lots of disaterous experiments before you get to be good at it.

I am largely self taught and it took many years to become proficient in the kitchen. For me, every undercooked chicken and overcooked veggie was worth the time and effort because I learned first hand what I was doing wrong and bit by bit I was able to understand food.

The point is folks watch TV chefs and think they can replicate what they see right out of the gate. The truth is, it isn't that easy in the beginning. It will become so as you improve but be patient. If you are seriuos about this cooking thing, baby steps. Don't expect too much of yourself but don't give up when it doesn't work out first time. Try to figure out why it didn't work and try again. Ask us who have been there but try to make your questions fairly specific to get the most helpful responses. You've probably guessed by now your original question was way to vague.

If you don't want to spring for a book up front, buy a $5 magazine like Cooks Illustrated or something to get some ideas. There is a wonderful world in food if you want to go there. Good luck

Jock

LOL Jock, now isn't that the truth. I watch Jacque Torres (sp?) on the TV. Enjoy greatly, and never ever attempt to re-create, because I couldn't. I don't even want to, I am not a 'sweet' person. ;Þ (Please no one consider that an invitation to 'pile in' on me). But you know Urgent, I am the only one in my entire whanau who can make a jolly good Pavlova. Big ones, little ones, individual mini ones. The reason for that is I practiced, tried, had upsets, tried again. Over and over.

Now, while I would like to tell you how to make a superiour roast dinner, (shove everything in a roasting pan, and toddle off for a bit of a sleep, until the veg needs to be turned) I will instead give you a recipe for Pav. This appeals to my sense of the ridiculous.

Take eggs. Separate them. I normally use one cup of egg white. (save yolks) Buzz one cup of sugar in the food processor, the point being you have equal amounts of both. Or use caster sugar. Beat egg whites until they go sort of glubby, start adding the sugar. I normally put the teaspoon of cornflour in at this stage, along with the teaspoon of cream of Tarter. Mix it in with the sugar, saves thinking. Stiff peaks will be the outcome so add a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice.

Use oiled foil, oiled baking paper, or whatever you think the best, maybe a Silpat. Pile the mixture on whatever, high as it will support itself, and shove in the oven at about 300 d. F or 150 C. Turn down after 15 minutes or so, and toddle off for a sleep. After an hour or so, maybe hour an a half, give it a little feel. If the outside is dry, crack the oven door and ignore it. 'till the next day.

It will have fallen a little, and cracked. don't worry. Peel the backing sheet off, I always just tip the pav. onto my hand and peel. It is a 'just do it' thing. Decorate as you see fit. We use cream, kiwi fruit, berries, peaches, any yummies you have to hand. Passionfruit is fairly traditional, but it doesn't matter if you don't have any.

It is the same with any food, take care of it and it will reward you.

As for the yolks. Make a baked custard, with a grating of nutmeg on top. It is surprizing how many people haven't had it for years.

ptdurk,

What ingredients do you have in your pantry that you are willing to cook with?

I was going to input your ingredients into allrecipes.com (link above) and direct you to specific recipes based on user ratings. But you can do that too. ;)

No No No, young man, I have not taken offence at/to your title. Urgent is what I want to call you. It fits so well, and I am guessing you may have a 'hurry on' to life. And good for you mate. Too many people peep around the curtain of life, afraid to enter the stage thereof. Well you are going to. Now I suggest you go armed with a teaspoon, a lemon and an avocado. Get fancy if you want to, but this is good basic food. So is a can of baked beans. I do hope you stay in touch, I think we may have the makings of a very capable cook. Maybe even a Chef. How good is life, I love it.

Well if you gonna give a tongue to the Assembly you gonna need an interpreter I think. Whut in the heck did you just say? Thanks. I aint good at figgering out whut Valley Girls is saying. Now I do know whut it means to be gagged with a spoon. Hope you dont find that odd.

bigwheel

So, ptdurk, where are you located that you shop at Tesco? Must be UK, right?

Jock