back on air

for this one meme, at least.

this meme has traveled halfway round the world!

what is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?   
I used to love making scrambled eggs. Experimental scrambled eggs, especially. I would ad leftover pasta sauces, salsa, mushrooms...all kinds of stuff. I thought I was such the gourmet.

who had the most influence on your cooking?   
My dad was the cook in the family. Mom's specialties were along the lines of hamburger helper and Old El Paso taco kits. My dad made spanish rice, pasta, and when guests came over fried zuccini & eggplant.

do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?
I have the quitessential picture of me as a baby with spaghetti all over me. I'm not sure of a cooking one. Maybe I'll flip through albums while I'm at my mom's tonight...

mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
bread. it's so scientific and precise.

what would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
I'm very low-tech. Not many "gadgets" get used around my household. It's all knives and graters and spoons and spatulas. Does a mortar and pestil count? I use that quite a bit.

needs improvement: We never have use for our toaster oven. The broiler is just as good. Garlic presses don't impress me. I had one completely break on me. Metal shouldn't break! If I'm two lazy to chop my garlic, I just use the cheese grater.

name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else!
tater tots and sriracha sauce (actually people probably do like this, they just haven't tried it!), Pretzels on ice cream,

what are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?
beans
rice
ice cream

your favorite ice-cream.
that varies greatly from week to week. I'm partial to low-fat ice creams with lots of caramel in them. I liked edy's grand light new slow-turned caramel swirl.

you will probably never eat.
I like to think I'll try anything. And who knows where future travels will take me. Balut eggs are rather scary. I don't think I could handle that. But anything else, I'm pretty open.

your own signature dish.
burritos (black beans, jalepeno cilantro rice, sometimes cheese, sometimes chipotle chicken, always tons of salsa.)

you got tagged by.
No one. I only get a couple hits a week. But I snagged it from mipmup.

three people you'd like to pass this meme onto.
"no tags, but would love to have the link if you do post."...that's what mipmup said. dtto for me.