Je ne peux pas cuisiner!

up until recently i have pretty much thought that the idea of someone who can't cook as a myth. well, like most myths, the truth has been dispelled and in my college years i have encountered several people who cannot cook. thinking back i can't really recall if i ever really learned to cook or if i just intuited the directions in my kids' cookbooks or maybe it was the hours and hours of foodnetwork my mom used to {and still does} watch. whatever the case, i easily can prepare various meals for myself, but the lack of that skill by some of my fellow classmates has made me wonder, whatever happened to home ec? there weren't any home ec classes where i grew up. we had a somewhat faulty culinary arts program that often lacked funding and qualified personnel but nothing like the home ec classes you see on high school sitcoms. why is this? is it anti-feminist to teach students how to cook because that would be insinuating that is all that women can do: stay at home and cook for their families? i would argue that now, in the twenty-first century, a home-ec style class would be extremely beneficial. i'm all for women being independent, as well as men and with more and more young people embarking out on their own after high school and college they should have the know how to prepare a meal. and with a large proportion of this nation's population overweight, i'm sure there are many who would benefit from the knowledge of preparing a simple, cheap, quick, and healthful meal at home as opposed to continuing the proliferation of our fast food nation.

on a similar note {that is really nothing more than a rant}, it would be wonderful if there were more recipes and cookbooks tailored to cooking for one. maybe there are, but i haven't found them, yet. i love cooking and trying new things but i also don't usually want to eat the same thing for five nights in a row to prevent wasting food. maybe someday.

on another similar note, this past weekend i made the most un-freaking-believably delicious scones. i first read about them on one of my favorite food blogs tea and cookiesa few months ago when i was still in france, lacking in free range of a kitchen, not to mention navigating the grocery store to find all the ingredients and then converting everything to metric and centigrade. then several weeks ago i finally printed out the recipe. then another two weeks to gather the ingredients on errant trips to the store. then another week to let my life calm down. then, finally, on a quiet, sunny saturday afternoon i mixed up the cheeseboard collective's cherry corn scones that tea writes about here. {by the way, if her writing and photos can't convince someone to move to san francisco, i don't know what would} when the scones finally made it out of the oven, they were definitely worth the wait. hot from the oven with just the perfect balance of a crusty outside, creamy biscuity inside, not to mention the lovely sweet and sour cherry gems. so perfectly balanced they don't even need any extra butter or jam. they are a great companion to a hot cup of earl grey. the combination just might be the thing to get through these {hopefully} last few weeks of portland wet and cold, and hours of homework.