I Don't Cook, But When I Do...

 

If you ever asked any of my friends about me and cooking, you'd probably get a moment of blank stare and then a fit of laughter. I'm the kind of person prone to saying thing like, "Knitting is the limit of my domesticity," and "Cooking.......?" with an accompanying grimace.

It's not that I don't like cooking... it's just that, well, I don't like cooking.  My brain is already occupied with things like how will I get glue off of a vintage corset I'm fixing for a friend, and do I have enough cashmere to finish the last repeat of that shawl, and will I have to jump my car's battery this morning (the answer is usually yes).

 

Which is why it is with a sheepish heart that I tell you that Lumberjack and I cooked (gulp) the most delicious scrambled eggs I've ever eaten on Sunday morning.

We've been going to Trader Joe's for groceries for the past few weeks, which takes a little more planning than our usual grocery store, but the results so far have been delicious.  So the other day we were there, and I saw a bag of kimchi.  And I love and adore kimchi, to the point that my dorm room smelled like fermented cabbagey goodness for a straight month right around my birthday one year (sorry, old roomie!).  My Japanese host family teased me all the time because I'd get super excited when there was kimchi in our evening stew or on the side to eat with rice.  When a Korean market opened up in Oberlin my senior year, I just about died of happiness.

Store-bought kimchi isn't always the greatest, but I always hold out hope.  Sometimes it hasn't aged enough that I like it, and the vinegar hasn't yet been overcome by deep, delicious smokiness.  I have to say, I sampled some of the Trader Joe's kimchi before it went in the pan, and it was super delicious: just the right balance of tang and spiciness and crunch.  Mmm.

And the recipe we used was the kind I could get used to, which is to say that it was ridiculously, insanely, comically easy.  To whit:

Kimchi Scrambled Eggs

10-12 ounces kimchi
6 large eggs
butter
milk
salt

In a glass mixing bowl, crack eggs and add a generous splash of milk.  Whisk.  Add salt to taste.

Drain kimchi in colander or strainer.  Set aside.

Heat large frying pan to about medium heat.  When pan is hot, cut small slab of butter and put in pan to prevent sticking.

When butter has melted, pour in eggs.  Mix in kimchi.  Cook as for scrambled eggs, removing from heat when eggs have reached desired texture.

Nom - with gusto!