I don't know...
I have been thinking about this all day - whether or not to pursue this topic or not. And since I can't stop thinking about it, I've decided to dive in. I have this hankering to dump my cooking woes.
I have a hate, hate relationship with cooking. When we had our kitchen remodeled I was very slow to move back in. After "cooking" in the laundry room for 3 months with just an electric fry pan and a toaster I was in no hurry to move back into the real kitchen. After the range was installed the contractor had to encourage me to try it out - to make sure it worked! He said he'd never had to do that before. Usually people were itching to use their new things. I should say I do love my kitchen - but not for cooking - just for looking at.
How did I get this way?
I don't know.
My mother, an excellent example in the making dinner arena, cooked square meal dinners every day. We sat down to eat at 6pm almost on the dot every weekday night. Probably on Saturdays too but Sundays usually were a big meal in the late afternoon. The square meal consisted of a green salad, an entree, and a vegetable. Usually, there was some sort of something sweet for dessert.
Did my mom enjoy cooking?
I don't know.
I don't remember her complaining about it. She just did it. And the menu was pretty standard. Nothing fancy. But it was good. We definitely had our favorites - my dad had his favorites. And we had to eat at least one helping of whatever was served. And this, I don't remember ever being too hard a thing to do with the exception of some of those "Dad's Favorites" - split pea soup (which I like now), liver and onions, salmon patties and navy bean soup.
I, however, complain about cooking all the time. And I often try to get my kids to take care of dinner. When they ask the question "What's for dinner?" I sometimes reply with "What are you going to make us?" Of course, they take the opportunity to beg a dinner out. And generally, we don't go out. At least not on week days.
Each of the kids has taken a turn at going through a cooking phase, but it always went towards baking goodies, not cooking dinner. I tried to cash in on these phases, encouraging more dinner type recipes but they never fell for it. Evan and his current fondue facination is the closest we've come to such a set up.
Claire's first attempt at a grilled cheese sandwich - Eric was a teenager and came home to a sort of smoky kitchen while she was learning by doing. I was in the family room. Eric came into the family room and wondered "Shouldn't you be in there helping her?" Yeah, probably but instead I invited him to help her out.
See, bad cooking juju.
In college - one time making macaroni and cheese - the water kept boiling up, threatening to spill over. I kept lifting the pot off the burner. One of my roommates suggested I turn the heat down. Ah - what a novel idea.
Turning the heat down is something I am not good at doing. I'm always in a hurry - I don't like standing around watching and stirring etc. I burned the noodles for mac and cheese - we had "barbecue" mac and cheese that night.
Wouldn't any conscientious mother toss the noodles and start again or at least serve something else? Not me. With every cooking misadventure, I have felt I'm preparing my children for the mission field. And for the boys, if they end up in a traditional marriage set up - their wives have it easy – there will be no competition when it comes to whose cooking is better.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
What my family thinks of all this? Will have to be topic for a different post.
