I love to cook. When I was little, I always wanted to help mom in the kitchen. While her rules of baking and cooking were somewhat repetitive and totally unhelpful as a teaching tool (all rules were to “listen", which taught me nothing about reading recipes) I loved the proud feeling I got from proclaiming “I made that!" It felt magical to take simple thing like flour and sugar and turn them into cookies or whatever was being created.
As I've become a self sufficient adult, my love of cooking and my ability to create something edible from raw components has grown exponentially. I love to have people over for dinner. I love finding new recipes. I still feel proud knowing when the finished product is on the table that I made that. Which is why it's so sad that lately cooking is more a chore than a joy.
Budget austerity means meals out are a thing of the past. And in an effort to lower the grocery bill, menu planning has become a necessity. But cooking every day and twice daily on weekends has stripped the fun out of it for me. I feel like I spend my life in the kitchen. Moreover, I feel like my life revolves around the kitchen.
Part of my problem is stubbornness. I could make simpler dishes or let my husband take the wheel. But, if I am forced to eat in, I want to enjoy what I am eating. So my kitchen prison is of my own design.
In order to make this self-imposed kitchen exile more fun, I am going to start sharing recipes and tips on this blog. I hope that sharing my kitchen wisdom will inspire others to cook more and perhaps reinvigorate my joy of cooking. Stay tuned for more from this high heeled contessa :) And unlike my mother, my first and only rule in the kitchen is to make what you love. Because if you don't enjoy the fruits of your labor, then cooking is truly joyless.
No comments:
Post a Comment