But Do It Anyway?

A month ago, I wrote about how much cooking has become a chore for me. And I made a pledge:

“In my next post, I’m going to tell you a little bit about how I am and am not overcoming that. I’d love to know your thoughts on what makes cooking hard or easy for you, or any tips or tricks you have for making it suck less.”

I wrote those words about a month ago, and I did get some good suggestions from my friend Lori in the comments and from folks on Facebook and Twitter. I’m super grateful, but I’m still struggling.

Maybe that’s obvious from the fact that my last post was over a month ago. Because the “next post” had to be about “how I am and am not overcoming” a feeling of cooking sucking.… Continue reading →

Cooking Sucks – Revisited

In a recent post, I wrote about going feral. Also known as, “bach-in’ it” or “not eating like a grown-up.” I shared it in part because I think it’s humorous, but also partially because I think it’s perilously easy for someone who keeps a food blog and who is known to enjoy cooking to come across as someone who always has the best food to put in her face-hole. (Especially when I tweet about workday French toast.) That’s a lie, and it can be demoralizing to read, I suspect.

But in discussing going feral, I didn’t really address many of the reasons driving my feral-ness. And that wasn’t intentional. It was just kinda spilling onto the page, because the major reason I shared is that sometimes I find I treat myself better when I’m open and vulnerable, rather than trying to only show the highlight reels of my life (as it were).… Continue reading →

Carne Adovada Repair?

So, Tuesday was Bill and I’s second wedding anniversary. The plan was for it to start with carne adovada breakfast burritos.

I dragged my father, who was visiting Sunday and Monday, to one of our two butcher shops to buy 5 lbs of meat. I carefully trimmed it down and cut it into chunks late Monday night after visiting with several of my beer friends at a beer launch. I placed it in the same slow-cooker I have always made carne adovada in, with the same amount of red chile (two cups) I have always used.

The house smelled amazing the next morning when we opened the slow-cooker. We were very excited. Only to have our hopes cruelly dashed once we tried a piece.

It… was bland.… Continue reading →

A link worth sharing

I appear to have been wrong, yesterday, in saying my next post would be all about kitchen items I regret buying. Of course, I was also expecting not to have another post until Wednesday; a post which is already scheduled to go up, so I guess I should just accept occasional wrongness. Or call this a bonus post.

BONUS POST! WOO!

I’d like to share Tracie McMillan’s article called “Cooking isn’t fun, but you should do it anyway”. It hit Slate yesterday, so I figured I might as well slip this link in today and then go back to regularly scheduled blogging tomorrow.

Frankly, I really appreciate this essay. I considered simply tweeting about it, but I wanted to get into how great this essay is.… Continue reading →

Now I’m pretty sure I never want a wall to be “pesto” green

It turns out that Bill’s mother has a far more impressive food processor than Bill and I do. Very big, decently liquid-tight, strong motor. I am sure of this, despite having never seen her food processor. How do I know?

Well, I made her pesto recipe Monday night. I made a half batch, because that’s all the more basil I had. Guess what a half batch of Rosa’s pesto in my food processor looks like?

Yup. And that’s just a half batch! I can clearly never make a full batch.

I did figure out how to clean all of that up, and then finish making the batch without further disaster on my walls. It involved considering growing a third arm & hand to hold the towel around the food processor, but I did it.… Continue reading →