Just wrapped up a week of travel with my Anni and Dean. Fitting in the family before I get too big! We visited my grandparents in Pasadena, saw my Mom, and ‘Trick or Treated’ with dear friends on zany Balboa Island.
But the most fun culinary adventures I’ve had in a long while happened in my Army brother’s kitchen in Colorado Springs.
First, Casey made us a wonderfully steamed salmon with fresh sage cooked perfectly in pinched tin foil...accompanied with diced pineapple…and paired with warm apple cider. So I cooked our second night. And encountered some surprises.
If you’ve ever cooked in a true guy’s apartment, you know what I am talking about. They have the basics but not really all that you want as a kitchen cook. So then you have to be creative. In this case, my goal was filling Casey’s freezer with home-cooked love (individually frozen lasagna made with my bolognese). He had the necessary pot but was short on measuring cups and spoons let alone spices, a good chopping knife, colander, etc.
As a result, I created the most lumpy roux imaginable but I learned that adding extra chopped garlic and fresh parsley covered that blunder nicely. And that a wine goblet makes a pretty good eyeball measuring cup in a pinch. 
I now know what I am getting him for Christmas.
My mom and I once stocked my kid brother’s freezer with meals while he was on his own in an apartment during college. Brings back good memories! And yes, bachelor kitchens can be surprising!