Cooking Karma
My husband just installed a new microwave and a couple of weeks ago he fixed the oven, so I haven't got any more excuses for not cooking.
I don't like to cook. I don't hate it (well, maybe a little), but it certainly doesn't bring me much pleasure. I know there are a lot of you who really enjoy it. It relaxes you, it gives you a creative outlet, you do it to show others you love them. Intellectually I know that it can provide these wonderful feelings, but not for me.
That said, however, I was just telling my kids that looking back, I wish I'd listened to and learned more from my mother when she cooked. She didn't make anything fancy, mind you, but she made certain dishes that I crave as an adult and I don't have any way to find out exactly how she made them. Stuffed cabbages, for instance. She'd spend all day making them and I could have cared less at the time, but every once in a while I get a really strong desire for them and I wish I knew how she did it.
What about recipes, you may ask. Well, she didn't leave me any recipes. She didn't use them. She cooked from her head. She tried to get me to pay attention and watch her but I used to do pretty much anything to get out of doing it. I'd pretend I couldn't hear her calling me to the kitchen or I'd yell back unintelligible words and then just keep on doing whatever I was doing. I just couldn't be bothered.
I mentioned this to my kids the other day when I was making my famous pumpkin roll, because they love it but they never come in the kitchen and watch me make it or ask if they can learn. I basically told them that one day they'd regret not learning how to do it, but they looked at me with the same kind of glazed-over tolerance that I used to give my mother and promptly went back to whatever they were doing. Sigh. Serves me right, I guess. My own unhappy cooking karma coming back to bite me!
Old Man Luedecke--"Joy of Cooking" mp3 off The Artel, Kingston, 16 March 2007
Star Club West--"Karma" mp3 off Oh Dry Blue Menthol (buy)
I feel the same way about my grandmother's cooking. My father was
embarrassed by my grandmother's simplicity ( she was put to work on the
farm when she was 5, never sent to school. so she never learned to read or
write) He loved to eat her food but never went in to the kitchen to help or
wirte down her recipes. I was a little to young to do anything but enjoy
her cooking.
aw, what a great idea! they will really appreciate that when they're older.
i could do that, too, i suppose, although there'd only be about ten recipes
worth writing down! :)
I love to cook. I have to be in the mood though, and there are times when
I'm too tired or lazy to do it properly, but I try and make sure that I eat
relatively healthy stuff, even if it is quick and easy. I have a few
standards (bacon and mushroom risotto, chicken pasta, beef satay) that I
know really well and love, but I also love trying new recipes.
I love cooking. It is one of my favorite ways to relax. Any time we rent a
new house, the kitchen is the first room I check out. It is my domain. By
no means am I a master in the kitchen, but the best thing in the world is
pulling together a tasty meal from what I can find in the fridge.
agnes--i envy you, i really do! i mean, i have a couple of things i make
well--by well i mean that i would dare share with people outside my
family--but my repertoire is very slim! i guess i'd cook more if it just
didn't seem like so much effort for so little reward! :)
I like to cook special things, but the everyday cooking drives me nuts. I
could fix a pot of soup on Sunday and eat from it for a week and be happy,
and when Keith was in VA for 10 weeks last year, I did just that. (I know,
hard to believe this, since I know you have seen my status updates on FB
with what I've been cooking.)
You could try to recreate those stuffed cabbages- just get any recipe and
try it and then keep adjusting with the help of other recipes it until it
tastes like you remember. That's how I learned to make many of my
grandmother's dishes because my mom hates to cook and never does. I really
like cooking but I totally learned from books and television... bless
Nigella because I'd have been lost without her :).
omg--i'm so sorry you guys, i missed these last two comments! anyway, nat,
i completely agree with you about the eating from a pot of soup all week
long, only i'm too lazy to make the pot in the first place! i'm really
lazy, i guess. and greer, i've thought about trying to make them, i even
asked someone about it, looked up a recipe and found out their "real"
name--halupkas or something like that, but i guess i'll have to be in the
mood. i think one of the main reasons i don't cook much is because the kids
won't eat it, so it's kind of like, why bother?
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