So, we've been away from the blog for a little bit. The past 6 weeks have been the usual mix of life for each of us: some weeks were better than others, some moments were fantastic, others...not so much. We decided to get the blog back on track and we look forward to further postings.
Since I last wrote, my husband and I renovated our kitchen! After we finished, I couldn't believe that we didn't change everything years ago. When you think about it, the cliche of the kitchen being the heart of the home is really true. You're in there multiple times a day, making messes, chopping things up, simmering sauces, cranking up the oven, wiping down counters, soaking pots and pans, etc. The kitchen sees an enormous amount of activity several times a day. My feeling is, we're in there so often, we might as well enjoy it. I think that's why I started to fall in love with cooking over the past few years. A lot of times it's easy to look for ways to stay OUT of the kitchen...making excuses for lack of time to cook and eat, blaming being tired or exhausted from the day on always eating out. When cooking becomes a hobby, being in there is simultaneously a joy and an amazing way to relax. I've said it before, but when I'm in the kitchen, I'm happy. Chopping, peeling, prepping...all of it is soothing to me instead of a burden. Pretty much everything Carl and I make is from scratch, and really, at the end of the day, I don't feel like I'm spending thousands of hours in the kitchen in order to achieve that. To me, making homemade things is natural and easy. And really, I think of it in the same terms as I consider making a cake from scratch versus using a pre-made mix: if you're going to be cracking eggs, firing up a mixer, and using a spatula to pour batter into pans, why not just add a few extra steps and make everything from what you already have in your pantry anyway? Plus, and this I discovered only a few years ago...a cake from scratch actually tastes like cake. To me, cake from a box doesn't taste remotely like cake. A few extra steps, and the taste difference is enormous. By the same token, I'd rather do a few extra things in the kitchen and end up with food that is homemade and has a minimal amount of processing and additives.
While renovating the kitchen, I also discovered how much I've grown to depend on our own cooking versus grabbing take-out. The kitchen was out of commission for about 10 days, which translated into 10 days worth of ordering out and going to restaurants. I was ready to lose it. There's only so much take-out I can deal with anyway. Typically we grab a pizza or something on Fridays, but the rest of the week, we cook. Having to eat out for every meal for such a long time started to get repulsive much quicker than even I anticipated. I truly felt like I was just ingesting crap and I started to crave vegetables and fruit, which are of course very hard to come by when you're ordering out.
Since our kitchen has been renovated and re-organized, we've been cooking non-stop. Clambake Soup (a recipe that produces an enormous amount and has a list of ingredients a page long....it was completely fabulous to make and eat this past week,) Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork, Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese, omelets for breakfast, Fully Loaded Potato Skins for a party...the list goes on. Today, I'm actually running out to the store in order to make 2 Mediterranean Cheesecakes, which is perhaps the most delightful appetizer I've ever tasted, the recipe courtesy of Meg. It will require lots of chopping up and mixing, and the use of specialized equipment (springform pans.) I can't wait to get started!
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