Food When was the last time you cooked for yourself?

Last night.

I travel a night or two a week, so those nights are out. Of the remaining 5-6 nights, I probably grill 2-3 of them. My wife cooks 3-4 of them. On nights that I am home we probably only eat out or get carryout for dinner maybe once or twice a month. We cook a lot.

 

I cooked on Thursday night for just myself, as my husband was gone that evening for frisbee. This week has been a weird week as we've been trying to enjoy the last week of "freedom" before I return to school on Tuesday. Last night we opted for a happy hour snack together out at a local beer bar. We cook at home most nights, as it's a time-saver and a money-saver. Most people don't believe me when I say it's a time-saver, but if you go to a sit-down restaurant, figure out how long it takes you to go there, sit down, order, and get your food. Similarly, a trip to a fast food joint can take 15 minutes between going there, getting food, and getting home. We cook vegetarian in the house, so getting a meal on the table in under 15 minutes is not only feasible, it's pretty typical. Fajitas, stir-fry, curry, and all kinds of other things can all be made in 15 minutes or less. It's healthier for us, it's cheaper for us, and it's fast. My husband also cooks frequently, so we switch off on kitchen duty quite a bit, which is nice.

 

Tonight is Magpie 's night to cook and last night we did sushi. I cooked the rest of the week.

When I was a young bachelor I didn't really know how to cook, so most of my meals came out of a box. It was somewhere around my 24th or 25th birthday that I finally decided that it was time to learn to feed myself properly. Convenience meals are convenient (hence the name) but aren't really very good. I got tired of them.

 

Plus, you make a mean carbonara. Why would anyone eat a meal out of a box when they could have carbonara?

 

I'm trying to get out of the habit of "throwing shit together" to feed myself.

I want to make decent stuff, partly because I can...and should. (I worked about nine years in the food service industry.)

I love making curries (both Indian and Thai). Maybe I'll dedicate myself to making one at least once a week.

Other than that, I just got a couple of cookbooks from the library with the theme of "meals in under 30 minutes." One barrier to me right now is that I'm lazy and procrastinate. If I have some great ideas for quick deliciousness, I'd be more apt to actually make something. I'm the dishwasher at our place, so if I cook, it basically means I pull double-duty. However, on September 14, we're moving to a place that has a dishwasher (the machine!) and double sinks.

I'm not going to have any more excuses. Yet, I'm seriously glad about that.

You don't understand. I've washed dishes by hand (all of them) for about fifteen years...in a single sink setup.

 

If I were going to make one complaint about where I live now, it would be the lack of a dishwasher. Magpie and I switch off on dish washing duty, so it's not too onerous -- the rule is whoever doesn't cook does the cleaning.

I've considered getting an apartment-sized deal, like the ones that hook up to the sink. I've been washing my own dishes for over a decade now, so the idea of having a machine to do it for me seems positively decadent.

 

Seriously. The place we're moving to is still under 1,000 square feet, but I'm going to feel like a prince.

It even has a washer and dryer off the kitchen! No more lugging laundry up four floors or higher only to find the machines are in use...and no more "oh, we can't wash our underwear because we don't have the proper change, and we'll have to go to the bank...when it's open...."

 

The dishwasher is handy as storage for dirty dishes, if nothing else. Sig and I are always at odds over what to do with the dirties. We both grew up without dishwashers.
His family of origin always let the dishes pile up in the sink so they could use the counter. My family always rinsed the dirties, then put them on the counter so that they could use the sink. I hate it when all I want to do is wash some veggies, and the sink is full of dirty dishes.

I/we cook for us (nearly) every day. It's fun, cheaper, easy and healthier. We are paleo carnivores (mostly) so, we get to choose the foods we like and then make them into something we want.

We put plastic glasses, cups, and (especially) silverware into the dishwasher. I cook mostly with a collection of old Revereware copper bottoms mixed with cast iron pans that shouldn't go in the dishwasher, so I always do the pots and pans and glass glasses by hand.

I'll be doing some cooking tomorrow. One of the local stores bought a whole truckload of Hatch chile peppers (from New Mexico). A 25lb box is $24.95 so I'll be roasting, peeling, and freezing green chiles all afternoon, and making a big batch, probably a gallon or two, of New Mexico style pork green chile.