Food Is Love

I love to cook and bake. The best therapy for me is to pull out my baking ingredients and make cakes and cookies and other treats. However, if I did that as often as I need to, my entire family would weigh 500 pounds each. We are a big sweets-loving family.

I also love experimenting with ingredients and seeing what meals I can invent. I used to do this all the time back when I was single. Once I met my husband, though, I had to severely limit my experimentation because of his pickiness when it comes to food. While he’s significantly improved in that area, he still likes what he likes, and other than for health reasons, really doesn’t want to try new things. 

 

My kids were also picky, so although I’ve never been prevented from experimenting for myself, when it came time to cook for everyone, tried and true recipes won the day. Besides, I’m not a short order cook, and the thought of making different meals for different people did not appeal to me. Not to mention, it would have made it very difficult to teach my kids to eat what was presented to them.

 

So, much of my love for cooking has fallen by the wayside. I still did it, still tried making new foods occasionally, but only using ingredients I knew were on the “approved list.” We were limited, but it was better than nothing.

 

Fast forward to today, when both girls are away at college and law school, living in apartments. With kitchens. That they have to use. I was all excited, thinking about the shopping we’d do together to outfit their kitchens, the recipes I’d pass along for them to make their favorite foods. But with covid and limited time and their strong wills, my idea of what would happen differed significantly from reality. Again. So I let them take the lead, stayed in my lane, and reminded myself that it was okay.

 

And then the FaceTime calls started.

 

“Mom, how do I cook this?”

“Mom, can you send me the recipe for the chicken you make that I like?”

“Mom, how do I store this?”

“Mom, we need more pans, can you help me pick out the right size?”

“Mom, can you watch me do this to make sure I’m doing it right?”

 

Suddenly, everything was worth it and all is right in my world.