cooking

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a cooking class on the east side and it made me realize how far away I've traveled from the pleasures of food.

I'm distracted, busy and prioritizing a number of other things in my life, and cooking has been the sacrifice.
I eat out ALL THE TIME.
Ok, not all the time, I don't make that much money.
But convenience foods rule my life: frozen this, instant that or toss-it-together other.

I used to plan for the week and make homemade hummus and experiment with new ingredients; cooking was hobby.
Over the years its been degraded to that thing I do if I'm expected to bring something to a party.

So, last night was a bit of a refresher.

The focus was Indian food, and my initial reaction was to WIG OUT because all the things I do instinctually (cut, dice, saute, etc...) were suddenly on display, I reverted immediately to my sophomore chemistry class self: hyper-aware, grade me rate me tell me I'm good desperate to please band geek nerd.

About 45 minutes in, I chilled out after a team-mate intervention to remove me from my overly-vigilant samosa stuffing stirring.

The meal was excellent, I'd totally go to another class, and I came home tonight - 2 hours late even - and tossed a salad, sauteed fresh olives, spinach & tomatoes in with pasta and toasted fresh mozzarella on bread...

Admittedly, this moment was coming - I bought a little more from the West Side Market this week than usual (hence the bread, olives, spinach, tomatoes etc) but I was both happy to be cooking and disappointed in myself for all those other evenings I would have simply driven to Chipotle and packed nothing more than a Lean Cuisine for lunch.

So here's to cooking more.