I've decided the thing that I hate the most about being a SAHM (if you don't know what that means, then I guess you aren't one!) is the responsibility of cooking dinner. I'm not saying I cook everyday, because I don't. Iffy makes curry dishes which last two days usually, and I am thankful for those second day leftovers.
The thing is, I really really don't like cooking. If it was just me I would be perfectly happy eating cereal and sandwiches every meal of the day. But it's not just me, so I have to throw something together.
Iffy and I have different styles of cooking. He ONLY makes one pot meals. I on the other hand make "parcels" of food, i.e chicken breasts, steaks, etc. I really don't know how to make any one pot meals, so I don't make meals that produce leftovers all that often, which is fine because while I can eat left over heaps of curry, a left over chicken breast just isn't as good the next day.
I think that the reason I hate cooking so much is because I'm not very good at it. There are a few things that I make that I like, but overall I don't get all that excited about anything that I make. I mostly enjoy eating ethnic type foods, especially Asian food like Thai and some Chinese. None of which I know how to make.
So I make chicken. Grilled chicken, pan fried chicken, baked chicken. Maybe it's a cliche that husbands get tired of eating chicken all the time. Iffy is definitely one of those guys that doesn't really consider chicken to be a meat. But when I stand in the meat section I am left with little other choice; I do NOT like pork chops. Pork roasts are OK, but I don't like left over pork. There is something about the way it smells the next day that reminds me of when I worked in the slaughter house blow torching pig carcasses. Pork ribs are good, but not good for you, so they are reserved for special occasions. I don't really know what to do with all the various hunks of beef. What the heck is a London broil anyways? Fish is good, but when you live in a desert you question eating fish. So it comes down to chicken. It's easy and I know what to do with it.
I guess what I need to do is come up with maybe 10 things that I really like and get good at making them. Some things on the list would be:
1) a really good pizza. I make a Chicago style deep dish that is OK, but not terrific.
2) some type of sesame seed encrusted beef or chicken dish
3) a really good Mexican type marinade for a flank steak for tacos or fajitas. I do not like the NM/TX style of Mexican food where you have to swim through gallons of orange sauce to find your food. I like lime/cilantro/onion-y stuff.
4) Pad Thai from scratch that doesn't require fish sauce. I like Pad Thai, but packaged stuff is laden with salt and I tried making it myself once and all I could taste was the disgusting fish sauce so it went straight in the trash.
I'll keep working on the list. In the meantime, I have to go defrost some chicken. It's getting grilled today. Here are some pictures.
She looks like such a big girl here.
When she sees the camera she always puts on a big smile.
The giant 3 inch long grasshoppers we've got down here, they call them Lubbers.
4 comments:
how bout cookin that grasshopper!
seriously, how about something with angelhair pasta (or rice), and bits of spinach, dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes sauteed, and parmesan. Thats an easy and good dish I've discovered and if I go down the street I can pay $12-15 to eat it! Wait I'll get your aunt's beef tongue recipe....
I miss Sara!
Amen to the chicken sentiments. I am so un creative when it comes to dinner. Tonight . . . tuna sandwiches. Not too special.
I so agree! Now that I work at home it always falls on me to think of dinner. I've found it easier to plan for the whole week ahead of time - although its tough thinking of so many things at once, it gets it over with so I don't have to agonize every night. Plus, I don't eat read meat, so every night is the question "chicken or ground turkey?" I tend to eat light, but J really needs some substantial meat to fill him up. We tend to eat curries, mexican things, pasta, chili, sandwiches, etc. I don't think its so much the question of being a good cook, just a motivated one.
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