It’s
been a long time between blogs.
Last
week marked two years since I returned to full time work.
Which means two years of not being the main Meal
Planner and Food Organizer, as well as being home A LOT less during the week.
All of which logically add up to Less Time for Cooking. But then there are the
other hidden issues that sneak up on you. Like being so tired on a Friday night
that you don’t have the mental energy to look through a cook book and see "what
takes your fancy” as something to cook, even though its kind of “your turn” to
cook at weekends. Like leaning more towards recipes spruiking “quick and easy”
rather than new ingredients/techniques/cuisines. Because much and all as it
would be lovely to hide in the kitchen on a weekend and spend 5 hours lovingly
making lasagne from scratch (fresh pasta lasagne sheets included), there is
also the important task of making sure the Stay At Home parent gets a break from
parenting/pet caring/housework at the weekend too.
So
my cooking exploits lately have narrowed considerably to include Muffins for
the Kids school lunches and cooked Weekend breakfasts. I have thrown in a few Thanks for the (insert good deed) Cookies and a batch of soup for a sick
friend but nothing anywhere near 8 hour pulled pork tacos or the like. I even
tried to do a Cook Each of my Soups on a Sunday for the winter, but I think I stopped
after three. Life gets in the way.
So
what does a domestic goddess do when faced with this situation?
One
could try and Rage against the Machine and do what the “organized people” do
and schedule “meal planning” sessions and “make time” for my cooking; make good
on my promise of cooking all the recipes that I have stuffed in my cookbook.
Try and shoehorn a (meant to be) fun and creative activity into my already busy
life, which would probably squeeze out other things like Chilling Out with
Husband or Playing Games with Kids. I’m not sure I’ve gained anything there…
Or
I could (more sensibly) go with the flow. Recognize that Culinary goals change;
that perhaps teaching Sons 1 & 2 how to make Caramel Slice is a good use of
my skills. Or getting creative with leftovers rather than starting from scratch
(much less brain power required as part of the ingredients are already there).
Point in case: we had left over roast pumpkin that I turned into pumpkin and
haloumi burgers for dinner (and my lunch the next day), and I also used up an
about-to-expire tub of sour cream by making beef stroganoff.
So I guess I’m
going through a fallow period at present – I have the recipes and the skills
(and many cool ingredients), I just need the time, and brain space to get the creative
juices flowing again.
So maybe, now that the chaos of renovations at
work has calmed down, I just need a good session with my recipe book; re-cook
some old favorites, earmark some “quick and easy” recipe for dinner, and maybe
even pick some recipes that need no excuse apart from I Want To (like my hot chocolate cookies....mmmmm)
It won't happen
overnight but it will happen
