Food for Thought

I am becoming obsessed with cooking.

Mind you, I hate cooking. AJ thought me enough about cooking that I wouldn't starve, for which I am grateful. I still hate it. I've been cooking a lot since Kevin moved in. Since cooking is an art and skill that grows with practice, I'm getting pretty good at it. But I hate it. My Granny used to say if she was ever going to wish anything bad on anyone it would be having to cook three square meals a day. She's is exactly right. This is my life:

The alarm goes off at 4:30 am. I get up, pee, stumble into the kitchen and start the coffee. I turn on the washer, which I loaded the night before. I make sure the dogs have water. My eyes are shut during the entire process. I stumble back to bed and snuggle again Kev for a while. I'm sleepy, but I am terrified that if I go back to sleep the coffee will boil over and the kitchen will catch on fire.

When I hear the coffee perking I get up again and pour me a cup. Then I wash dishes. I really should wash dishes at night but I am usually too tired and I need a shower so I don't want to run out the hot water. (We have a tiny hot water heater) Then I try to wake Kevin. Every morning we have the same conversation.

"Get up, Honey."

"Uh-uh."

"Now. It's 5 o'clock."

"Mummmphhh."

I give up and start packing lunches and making breakfast. At 5:15 or later Kevin realizes he has to leave in a few minutes so he bursts out of bed, gets dressed at record speed, grabs coffee, kisses me bye, and flys up the road like a demon in The Goat (yes, we name our cars. His other truck is the Silver Bullet and my truck is Hecate)

I get dressed and walk the dogs. Then I feed them. Then I water my plants and relocate them so they can get some sun. I put the clothes in the dryer. If I have time I sit in my rocking chair and drink coffee while I wait for my eyes to open completely. I sit on the floor and play with the puppies.

Then I go to work. We eat breakfast on our break. I have a regular work day and all day long I remember things I have to do at home. I cannot stop thinking about housework. The big looming thing that I have to do every day is cook.

When I get home I start cooking unless I'm out of things, then I run to the store. I seem to be going to the store a lot and the only thing I hate more than cooking is shopping. To avoid the store I try to think of ways to cook that involve what I already have on hand. We have breakfast for supper often because I always have milk, eggs, and bread. That's about five different meals from three ingredients.

This week I ran out of breakfast stuff. I have one egg, a sip of milk, and stale bread. Worse, there are no Hotpockets.

Kevin loves Hotpockets. The problem is they're expensive. I buy the big family pack, which is like $12. That's a good buy, but it puts a dent in the food budget.

I realized a Hotpocket is nothing but dough and filling. Surely I can make that?

Then I decided to make a bunch of meals and freeze them. I can make biscuits, pizza, pockets, and maybe breakfast wraps, if the tortilla will hold up. That would mean shopping less and cooking maybe twice a week.

Sounds delicious.