Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: common meals

[Judy Baxter (BAXTER]

I appreciated many of John Poteet's comments, esp. keep it simple,
and cook what youknow.
 and my experience may be different.  (we tend to serve 15 - 25, not 40).

But, he wrote:
<<I think I have several complaints about our common meals here.  One is
that the food is generally too oily, bland, (Moosewood I think)
frequently under or overcooked, and heavily focused on dessert.  I think
this is largely the result of cooks that are inexperienced with the
recipes they are using or inexperienced at cooking in general.
As a former resteraunt cook I am frequently surprised at the culinary
ignorance of the average person.  Most adults nowadays are very poor
cooks.  >>  
snip...
<<you have to focus your
attention on the meal.  Unless your entree, salad, vegetable and
condiments are restaurant quality (not Denny's!!) you are just asking
for poor dinners, weight gain and damaged health by having anything but
fruit available for dessert.  
>>

I think we have to remember that cooking for 20 or 40 can be daunting, and that
most of us  have no ambition to be restaurant cooks.  I think we eat well at
Monterey Cohousing, but I want to encourage people to cook, not scare them
away. So sometimes I accept things not "restaurant quality".  I expect some
variation, but the company is a pretty good spice.     Sorry to hear your
frustration, John. 

We recently discovered a cookbook called Vegetarian Express, and I have been
trying things from that.  I have found a couple of favorite, easy recipes from
there.

Judy

Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing Community,(MoCoCo) Twin Cities Area, Mpls.,MN
-- e-mail:      baxter [at] epivax.epi.umn.edu
15 homes - 7 new townhomes and 8 coop apartments  in a rehab Georgian building
 built as a retirement home in 1924 - 
 
**** back to appreciating our tunnel from the townhomes to the Common Space in
the Big  building, as the snow flies.

**** starting to think of an "interested people"/waiting list of some kind

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