Making noodles, then baking them in a dish with sauce, pepperoni and cheese. A simple meal, but tasty and filling. As I mixed in the cooked noodles with cold sauce, the sounds were a bit disgusting. I think this is why, although I like good food, hot, smelling good, for me and in front of me, I never enjoyed cooking. The process is somewhat unpleasant, meat at certain stages of cooking has a very unappetizing odor, for instance.
I've gotten used to some of it, it's not that terrible. But it goes a long way to explaining why preparing food is a chore, and that is all. I can't imagine a meal ahead in a way that effects me. The most I can muster is a "that might be ok." We struggle to shop well, making sure we are at least a bit hungry, so we don't just get sweets and condiments. The diswasher helps, so I don't get worried about what bowls will need cleaning after.
Having our own kitchen, and a decent one for the two of us, does make it a lot easier. Still consider people who enjoy cooking a bit like people who enjoy cleaning. Acknowledge it's a real thing, but all I will ever get out of it is the satisfaction of a job done. Or people who run for pleasure. I ran because I was paid to do so, and under orders, so I did. When I didn't have to, I didn't.
On the other hand, I'm plotting my garden. With all this rain, I really want to get some cold weather seeds in the ground, pull up more of the plastic netting. That will have to wait another month, but my fingers are already itching to get into the dirt.
4 comments:
funny how very different we all are. i love cooking, it's a real pleasure. less so with baking because one needs to be precise and i find certain kinds of precision boring. still, i have made peace with the kitchen scale and it ain't half bad.
cleaning, i farm out. it's a marriage saver, neither one of us loves to do it, and my standards are higher than mister monkey's so it tended to be an argument waiting to happen, so hence the hired hitman for the dirt. i find cleaning dispiriting, because one needs to do it over and over and over again…
running? well, i certainly don't do it for pleasure. i used to find all runners insane, and now i've joined their ranks, but i do it for two things: the feeling of strength it gives me, and for the calories it allows me to consume, which brings us right back to food.
Nigel Slater in his memoir 'Toast' described how his much disliked stepmother used to plan cleaning projects with the excitement most people reserve for outings or creative projects. I quite wish I felt like that about cleaning. I like seeing it done, but one of the things that annoys me about it is I say to myself 'I'll just do that really quickly, a lick and a promise' then I just can't and two hours later I'm and really sweaty and bored with it.
I like the noise of pasta in sauce though, like the spoon going into a good trifle. I quite like squelching.
heh. i spent a couple of hours today working on preparation for a sandwich i plan to make this weekend.
pc,
Everybody's got a thing. Can't tell you how often I've been told, "OH, I couldn't do your job!" And how often they are doing a job I couldn't do.
Lucy,
I can do both, but I have to be in a mood to clean well and finish the work properly. Glad when it's done, though.
flask,
I do hope it's a fabulous sandwich. I'm just greateful when D says, "Need lunch tomorrow? I'll makd you a sandwich. … Poof, you're a sandwich." Then he makes me one to take with me the next day.
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