Umami Tasting Parsnips - The Project

What's the deal with the title, you ask? Well its name of the new category on UTP. I have just initiated a self-project. It may not involve Umami or Parsnips, but its sure involves a lot of tasting and well mainly cooking.

Yes folks, UTP is facing his worst fear. His most hated thing. His punishment for life. His nightmare about hell. I am entering the realm of cooking.

I don't know why I am doing this yet. But I am. I think I was inspired by the movie Julie & Julia and not because of cooking but more with being inspired to blog. However, that has led me to think, what the hell is this cooking thing that women boast about and we men (well most of us) hate?

Considering all the head chefs of pretty much all big cuisines of the world, talk Five-Star, Seven-Star hotels, talk celebrity cooking shows, males dominate this market. Yet the average male at home, prefers to bum around, watch sports and pretty much do anything but go near the cooking area of the house also known as the kitchen.

The kitchen for most men is where the food is.

Well its true cos you got the refrigerator and cabinets with all the food stuff in. What most women would want us to know is that there is a dish washer, the stove and oven is there as well and not to mention the kitchen sink and the garbage bin as well.

Well its a long list so I have decided to at least get one major one under my belt. That is cooking. For people who have known me for a while, they would know this was pretty much the last thing I would have wanted to do on my list. So here's my answer to that. I like to surprise people. Surprises have always worked for my marital relationship. This one is no different.

The day I told my wife, I want to do a cooking project with her help, she was at first in the "Yeah...Yeah..." mode. But when I told her how I had planned it all. One dish every weekend and I do everything on my own. You just guide me. I had my cooking chef hat, a souvenir from Nanta and I need an apron with the UTP logo on it. She suggested I wear the Red shirt I have always had while cooking so it goes with the Red tape on the Chef Hat. I don't mind that. But seeing the plan I had, she knew I meant business and well how I made her fall in love with me again is something that she'll write about. I don't mind being the spotlight at all. But you already know that by now.

This is of course going to lead to a series of Posts as well so I needed a category. I decided its got to be something that abbreviates UTP. I am pretty much obsessed with my initials. So I went across googling for cooking vocabulary for words starting with U, T and P. I wasn't disappointed at all. I actually found a website whose title was "Cookabulary". Now is that perfect or what?

So as the title of my post says. The category is Umami Tasting Parsnips.

I like the name. Umami is the fifth taste that the Japanese have come up with after sweet, sour, salty & bitter. I think I would like the taste if I cooked it, as explained on the website I just linked to above. Parsnips is a root vegetable, something like carrots. But that is not why I selected it. My "rational" reason to select it was because it looks and sounds like a brief version of "partnership". Yup, that's my logic, like it or not.

This is going to be a partnership. A moment of bonding, every week. I look forward to it. I hope to keep this entertaining as we go along for you as well. Wish me Luck.