You know how you go on Pinterest and try out a Do-It-Yourself project that looks simple enough, and it turns out horrendous? Yes, some may have the skills to crank it out with perfection, but let’s be honest, most of us aren’t craft-gurus.
Well, it seems that while the Pinterest-project era is still going strong, another kind of “I can totally do that” DIY is swiftly rearing it’s ugly (or pretty?) head.
Cooking.
But not just any cooking … particularly, those adorably condensed two-minute-looks-super-easy-and-not-crazy expensive recipes.
You know what we’re talking about. While there’s a few rising stars behind these savory and inviting videos, Buzzfeed’s Tasty is the leader. The videos go viral. All of our social media fam post them on their Facebook walls and retweet them on their Twitter feeds. They tag their friends usually writing something like “Let’s do this! We can so do this!”
Have Marla and I done this? Guilty.
These quick and easy recipes beckon the most novice of cooks because well…they’re easy, right? We culinary newbies have no cooking skills, so it’s like these posts were made for us 20-somethings who are incredibly proud after making some bangin’ Mac-n-Cheese.
But, as us Average Joe’s are aware, many home endeavors are a lot easier in theory than they are in reality.
So, one day over some delivered pizza and Facebook browsing, we came across one of these delightful instructional clips and started to talk about how yummy it looked, how easy it seemed to whip up, and the little money the few ingredients would cost.
But we’re cynics. We knew there was probably a 1-in-100 chance it would actually be good, or look good for that matter. Sometimes the taste is there, but the presentation? Not so much.
Then it hit us. Not only did we decide to tackle the delicious dish we watched unfold on my phone screen – we would attempt to conquer a new one every. single. week. and write about how good or bad it turned out so normal folks, like ourselves, can know the real outcome, and not just the Rachael Ray version.
We admit, our reasons aren’t all noble. We’re totally pigs, too.
That’s how #WeCookWednesdays was born. And without further adieu, we present our first victim: One-Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta. Enjoy!
This is the magical 56-second video that we tried to duplicate. 56 seconds, one pot, we will see about that.
We threw those noodles in like Emeril says “BAM!” They didn’t fit though. It’s ok.
Now we are cooking, literally. First off, there is no instructions on the heat settings on the stove. We just picked medium heat, sounded good.
We were supposed to cook the garlic and pepper until “fragrant.” Unclear.
Cook shrimp until “pink.” How pink is pink enough? Should they look like they had a mild sunburn, or like Patrick from SpongeBob? I am not familiar with cooking shrimp, so this is foreign to me. Also the video said nothing about taking tails off.
We had messy hands.
Add “baby” spinach until wilted. Again, how wilted is wilted enough without being too wilted?
I just don’t know. Also that spinach was grown up with some huge leaves. Not easy to wilt.
Side note: Sam learned that the measurements are already on the stick of butter, and you don’t have to take a measuring spoon to the stick. She’s cute.
So now you’re supposed to add the pasta back in that you cooked earlier. It wasn’t smooth and playful. It was one lump of dry, sticky pasta. I wasn’t amused. We let six tablespoons of butter smooth this out which isn’t good for our arteries. #ThanksBuzzFeed
But alas, we created something decent looking. Definitely not like the video, and they don’t show the part where they are elbows-deep into shrimp tails.
We approved.
It wasn’t a fail. We did pretty good for a few millennials, but the video doesn’t answer the little questions we had.
We started out easy though, who knows how next week will go.
#WeDidIt