There, I've said it. It's not that I can't cook. I can whip up manicotti, prepare a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner, and stir up homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch. I know how to boil an egg, chop onions, and peel a potato. It's not that I don't know how to do it. It's that I hate to do it.
I'm by no means a domestic goddess. Standing in the kitchen for any longer than it takes to toast bread leaves me feeling stir crazy. (No pun intended.) My trips through the kitchen are short and sweet: nuke water, put in tea bag, leave. Grab bread from fridge, toss in toaster, wait one minute, butter, leave. Fill pot with water, place on stove, set to boil, leave, get husband to do the rest... You get the idea.
I'm also not very good at grocery shopping. (Please note - I love all other shopping: clothes, shoes, jewelry, home furnishing, etc.) I can spend close to 200 dollars at the market and, after I've come home and put everything away, still not find anything to eat. Actually, let me rephrase that - I can find something to eat, but I'd have to cook it first. Yuck. Not interested.
Since it's only Chris and myself, and our work hours are crazy-crazy, we normally don't put much thought into dinner. Our usual routine consists of either stopping through the drive thru at Arby's, grabbing a couple of burritos at Q-doba, or snagging a few feet of sub from Subway. On weekends, we often find ourselves at the Crystal Creek Cafe, Bonefish Grill, "The Big Burrito" (not the real name of the Mexican restaurant we like, but I can't remember how to spell it, nor can I pronounce it to save my life), The Fortune Cookie, Red Robin, or Big Daddy's.
Yikes. Thank goodness we live in the land of plenty... (There are no shortages of good restaurants in the Seattle area.)
So, in an effort to rehab not only our eating habits but our spending as well, Chris and I have challenged ourselves to a 30-day, no-eating-out-at-all policy. Over the weekend, we made a list, stopped at the store, stocked up on groceries, poured through cookbooks and on-line recipe sites, re-visited the store and bought more groceries, and finally put everything away - with a promise to eat it all before it rots. (That was another one of my problems - buying food, not wanting to take the time to cook it, eating out anyway, and then ultimately tossing the rotten fruit, veggies, meat, etc. in the trash.)
We're now on day four and, I'm proud to report, going strong. Weekend meals consisted of healthy chicken stiry fry, chicken burritos, and roast beef sandwiches. (And not Arby's-style roast beef, but Lisa-style. Wink, wink.) I scrambled eggs for breakfast on Saturday, and actually stayed in the kitchen long enough to clean and scrape the dishes. (And that's saying something, let me tell you!)
Will we make it a full 30 days? I think so. It is, after all, all about having the right attitude. (Not to mention the right cookbooks. ) BON APPETIT!
** For other undomestic goddesses like myself, here are a few cookbooks that have really come in handy: (Thank you, Ellen and Tonya!)
Fix-It And Forget It, Comforting Slow-Cooker Recipes by Phyllis Pellman Good
5 Ingredients or Less by Gooseberry Patch, and
Betty Crocker Cookbook by the Masters themselves.
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"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate."
-- Julia Child
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