Friday, September 09, 2005

It's just a phase, it's just a phase, please let it be just a phase!

I don't feel like cooking. For those of you who are strangers, reading that sentence probably seems like no big deal. For my friends, whose jaws have dropped or who may be just picking themselves up after falling off their desk chair, well...it's true. I haven't felt like cooking for several weeks. I still don't feel like it.

What is wrong with me? I am the woman who reads cookbooks for fun and inspiration. I walk down the grocery store aisles and formulate a spectacular dinner in my mind. I watch the Food Network as often as possible and search recipe sites for whatever grabs my attention. I read a recipe and know how it will taste. So why don't I feel like cooking??

Obviously this is just a phase. This is a slump. Maybe my cooking was falling into a rut and my subconscious has performed a system shut down. I need to be rebooted. This weekend I am going to visit Central Market and Whole Foods and wander around in the hopes of being inspired again. I'm going to dream up some yummy meals and then set out to make them. Right now I can't even be inspired enough to go get some hot water for my herbal tea. Something must be done!

I may need to fall back on some comfort food recipes from childhood to kick start my culinary life again. Maybe a nice pot of chicken & dumplings or crispy chalupas topped with refried beans, shredded cheese, guacamole, lettuce and tomato. Perhaps I need to make the cobbler recipe that's been in our family for generations. Or start working on my tortilla making skills, which are terribly rusty. I might have to roast a chicken, and serve it up with whipped sweet potatoes, dressing and giblet gravy. A thanksgiving for the return to the epicurean lifestyle.

What are your ideas? How can we "fix" me?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Purchase can of "Spaghetti-Os." Proceed with caution to can opener. Open can. Empty contents into microwaveable bowl. Heat for approximately two minutes, watching closely. Stir. Sprinkle with black pepper. Stir again. Enjoy while hot.

Anonymous said...

it's obviously time for homemade pizza. And not your fru-fru goat cheese and fennel pizza, the pizza of our youth made with too much ground beef, a pound of cheese and that thick crust! I recommend following that with peach cobbler. Add some sweet tea.

Your next meal can be guacamole chalupas. Make a small batch of one or two to go with carne guisada. Roll out flour tortillas and eat one hot with butter and grape jelly. Get the comfort foods in and let them percolate.

Your desire for haute cuisine will return in no time, soothed by the recipes of our youth.

Kay said...

For the record, I don't use fennel on my pizzas. You're probably thinking of the goat cheese/spinach/shrimp one or the goat cheese/smoked salmon/capers/spinach/anchovy/red onion pizza. I don't know what Frank would do if I busted out with one of our slumber party pizzas. It does sound good, though. And I haven't made tortillas in forever. I'm sure they'd be in strange shapes, that when laid out together could form the Eastern seaboard. I did make breakfast on Sunday: fried egg and bacon sandwiches. Mmmmm. I like mine over easy with drippy yolks but cooked whites. Frank eats his over hard. And Leslie, I did have a can of Ravioli for dinner one recent night. HEB's version of Chef Boyardee's overstuffed ones. Niiiice.

I think I'll plan on cooking something later in this week or on the weekend. I'll build up a recipe in my mind and get all excited and work myself into a cooking frenzy. What will it be? Crawfish etouffee? Seafood gumbo? Maybe a lemon and rosemary roasted chicken with garlic mashers. Or perhaps a pan of spinach and beef lasagna? Hmmmm....