This is a list of things made for dinner lately during my ongoing total cooking dry spell:
Anders made
Lasagna, with proscuitto & parmesan salad
Beef patties with sauteed onions and boiled potatoes
Tomato soup with garlic bread
Sweet & sour chicken with rice
Meatloaf
Pancakes
Meatballs with macaroni
Spaghetti with herb, cream and bacon sauce
Oven-baked salmon with tomato, garlic & basil cream
French onion soup
Breaded whitefish with potatoes
Oven-baked ham (kassler) with pineapple and rice
I’ve made
Tuna sandwiches
Tuna casserole
Martin tells me, when I say I don’t feel like making anything, that it’s my social obligation as a parent to make sure my kids are fed. I say, “Make your own damn dinner.” In return for food and clothing and housing, it is his job not to do drugs or other illegal activiites or get girls pregnant. He just told me that part for the first time, since otherwise he says it makes him sound like an ingrate.
They’re old enough to make their own dinner, but neither one of them does unless it involves microwaves or sauteeing frozen hash browns and schnitzels. That’s kind of sad (“says the one who’s made tuna meals for the last month,” says Martin).
Years ago, when the kids were younger, they pulled a meal strike…everything we made was BORING and we had the same meals OVER AND OVER and finally they just rebelled. They were right. We’d gotten lazy and did what was quick and easy and what we knew they’d eat. So we made them write up a list of meals they liked and wanted and we did pretty good at coming up with new ideas and being more creative for a long time.
But now I’m tired of cooking. I just want to come home and either make something for just me or eat something someone else has made, or go out for something. Everything is boring and I am completely uninspired and unmotivated and also, lazy.
Anders has stepped up to fill the breach admirably, which makes my slacking off that much easier…though I suspect if he reads this (hi honey!) he might have second thoughts about being so good-natured. But, let’s face it, he IS the better cook. (Martin just made brown-noser motions at me) I’ve got a handful of recipes that I am good at, but everyone is tired of those, and I’m not in the mood to look for new ideas yet.
Maybe I should institute KID CHEF days. Or like Sheryl, Weird Food Wednesdays or something. It’s not like I don’t have a row of good cookbooks to peruse or a pile of ripped out recipes that once struck me as yummy-sounding from various magazines or …I don’t know, the ENTIRE INTERNET FULL OF FOOD IDEAS, but nothing seems to be kickstarting my inner sous chef. I don’t need recipes. I just need a swift kick in the butt. Or maybe just a little more time to selfishly percolate and allow Anders to continue as the best Swedish Chef I know. Bork!