Being a grown-up

After several weeks of fighting my freezer, this weekend I came to realise that my freezer was not just too full, or on slanted floor, or that the door had changed shape - I has to face the reality as to why it wasn't closing properly. It needed defrosting.

Having consulted housemates, we realised that none of us had any idea how to do this (a phone call to a helpful mother, and a quick google consultation rectified this) and that we would also have a vast array of frozen food that would need to be dealt with.

The first thought was party. But we had to defrost it mid-week (the situation was near breaking point - we could not wait til the weekend). So the next option was a mass cook-a-thon, as we realised that we could cook frozen chicken into a curry, and then freeze the curry - genius!

The next day I had totally forgotten about the cook-a-thon and was happily preparing to watch Inception (totally brilliant - really really recommend it). I got in the front door, ready for a 45minute turnaround and was confronted by a mountain of frozen chicken and nearly a kilo of frozen prawns. And I had bought no sauce of any kind.

Now, my family are very evenly split when it comes to cooking. Both my mother and father are two of the worst cooks, possibly in the history of the modern world. my grandmother, while a good cook, hated it with a passion, and sadly this did sometimes feel apparent in her food. Yet my sister, aunty, Deda and my step-mother are all truly inspired chefs, and not only does the food look and taste great, but they geniuinely love it.

I am almost exactly in the middle. I oscillate wildly between loving to cook, and getting irritated and angry and frustrated, until I eventually abandon the whole thing to the bin and get a takeaway. Some concoctions work wonderfully, others, less well (note - do NOT subtitute oil for butter in cake - it does not work).

Luckily last week I was blessed with a good humour, and some even better inspiration. I cooked up the prawns with veg and thai green curry paste and made a vat of the stuff (keeps in the fridge - ate that a lot for lunch that week). And with all the chicken breasts I was a little more adventurous.

First I chopped two red onions and a load of garlic. I softened them over a low heat with some olive oil, and then added the chicken. I then added about two tablespoons of paprika, a pinch of sugar, some seasoning, two chopped peppers, and a tin of tomatoes. I may have added other things, but was limited to the minimalist contents of my cupboards.

I left it all bubbling away while I showered, dressed and made myself presentable for said date with the Boyfriend. I finally turned off the heat as I was pulling the front door closed.

When we returned from the cinema, we were starving (Inception is a great film, but a long one) and so I heated up some of the stew, made a healthy portion of cous cous (fast food of choice as it takes approximately 3 minutes to cook and is less hit and miss than rice) and I may have made it myself by god, it was DELICIOUS.