Food, Glorious Food!

Though my “junior" one-bedroom penthouse apartment is small, my 13-by-6-foot balcony that faces due west affords a fine view of the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge — but still, something crucial has been missing. 

After removing an English muffin from my trusty toaster oven one morning, I realized exactly what was lacking — cooking aromas, the soul-satisfying ambience provided when the stovetop or the full-size oven have spent hours simmering or baking significant food.

To get that, I would have to cook. I can cook, but I don’t want to. 

I’d prefer to use the toaster oven to reheat a perfectly grilled piece of salmon from the posh grocery, a favorite pasta from a nearby restaurant or a turkey sandwich with Brie from the bakery up the street. Then, I get out my Good China, a beloved pattern, bought for me by my Five Favorite Female Friends so long ago that even the china replacement companies have none of it left. 

I always enjoy tasty meals on my special plates, but the cooking aromas are fleeting. 

Skeptically, I regarded my six-quart slow cooker, well over 20 years old and Really Heavy, as it sat sorely in need of dusting on the bottom shelf of my kitchen cart. Ugh. Then I had an idea: Buy a new, smaller slow cooker, one that wouldn’t make so much food at once that you have to eat the same thing for four days or freeze portions that never again will taste as appealing as the first (or even second) time on a plate. 

Bonus: Everybody else is buying Instant Pots and airfryers now, so slow cookers are cheap! I found a three-quart model of a name brand for $35 at a nearby hardware store. Though thousands of slow cooker recipes are online, I also bought Linda Larsen’s “The Complete Slow Cooking for Two,” to supplement my original cookbook from 2001. 

Next, I grabbed a flashlight and a magnifying glass so I could read the miniscule, near-transparent expiration dates on my spice jars and replace those that certainly were short on flavor. (Expect to need a bank loan to do that. Yikes!) Then I spent more money on ingredients at the grocery, assembled a potentially ideal recipe for white chicken chili from three under consideration and — cooked! 

The apartment smelled fabulous for three days. Then, of course, I had to cook again. I did! And I continue to do so. 

Wild Rice and Meatball Soup: 

Pasta e Fagioli:

Chicken Cacciatore: 

Meatball and Potato Stew:

Next up, I'm probably going to make my friend Beth's recipe for Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken, especially now that I've made time to read cookbook author Larsen’s tips for slow cooking. I know better now, and I’m doing better!

For example, bone-in, skinless chicken parts (especially thighs) make for juicier chicken than boneless. And, if like me, you don't enjoy wrestling with chicken skin, ask the butcher at the grocery to take care of that. 

One thing I quickly perfected is the timing. I chop onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms the night before, to save time in the morning, when my hand-eye coordination is not at its best. The next day, my goal is to get the lid on the slow cooker by 10 a.m. That means dinner is ready when this happens: 

Bon appetit!