Recipe Swap

I can't decide if I am a cook or not.

I know for sure I am a baker. Because I love to bake, and if it involves sugar, then hey, I'm there!

But I still can't decide if I am a cook. I cook. And I cook well. But man oh man, I make quite the disasters in the kitchen. I get flour everywhere, I wreck stuff, I spill stuff, and I make a disaster every time. Bar none.

It is hard getting used to my new "kitchen." Mostly because I am still in denial that it is mine. I don't claim it, yet somehow I'm the only one who uses it. I have next to nothing when it comes to utensils and cooking gear. Which is hard for me. I currently have no oven (the landlord says it is forthcoming). And I cook on a tiny little electric cooktop thing. Last night I confirmed my fears that now I only have one burner, the second one crapped out.

I should have prefaced this post with my fear of hot oil. Some kitchen tasks always end up in the hands of Ross. Like frying. I decided that if someone is going to get burned with hot oil it can be him (nice right?). I mean, if I can't even measure a cup of flour without getting it everywhere, imagine cooking food in a million degree oil.

So with my temperamental electric burner, disdain for frying, and wok-less kitchen... naturally I choose a new recipe that involved all three!

Classic me.

I decided on a recipe I found for Crab Rangoons, courtesy of I Breathe... I'm Hungry:
http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2011/10/better-than-takeout-crab-rangoons.html

Last night I went over to my super fabulous friend Lizzy's house to use her magic bullet to mix up the crab, onions, and cream cheese so it would be ready to make in the morning.

Then this morning I woke up to try my hand at my feared task...
And it went great! They folded up fantastic, the oil stayed just the right temperature, and they were golden and crispy!

So I waited a little bit to fry up the rest so they wouldn't be so limp and cold (no way to warm them up in an oven remember). And that's where things got crazy. The oil got too hot, it was smoking everywhere, it wouldn't cool down, and in the process I made some nice little pieces of charcoal.. YIKES!

I found a small frying pan that I used as my wok. Good thing my kitchen has lots of windows, because it was way smoky.

But! I worked through it out of the batch only wrecked those three!
I took them to the Recipe Swap and everyone really enjoyed them. I was scared at first because people could be allergic to them, so I made the warning card!

The recipe swap was fun. There were maybe about 10 people, with some children. But it was fun to get together and share some food, with the beach just a few feet away! :)