Thursday, March 22, 2012

Wings of Life

A friend asked me for the recipe for potato salad, the only potato salad I make and have been making for over 30 years. It's in a cookbook called Wings of Life that I bought when Chuck was in law school in Lawrence and I worked in the library. It was a book I was cataloging and I convinced Chuck to let me buy it as I promised to cook delicious meals for him. It was pretty clear at this point that I was not my mother, not one of those homemaker types that cooks up hot meat and potato meals every day. Some days I just didn't FEEL like cooking. And I was getting a reputation in my family when they would come to visit. Oh, you want to eat? The whole hospitality thing took years to get used to and I'm still "practicing". Chuck would complain about it back in the day, but when I did cook on a regular basis, he complained that he was putting on weight. But couples adjust to each other. As a result of my not cooking, Chuck learned that he liked being in the kitchen at times. It was either cook or go out to eat and we couldn't afford that, so he cooked. Now my spotty meal planning works well for us. Sometimes I cook, sometimes Chuck cooks, and sometimes, often times, we simply graze. At dinner time, we saunter into the kitchen and see what we can throw together. I am so blessed to have a husband that likes this system as much as I do. As for Wings of Life, I don't remember what recipes I used from that other than the potato salad, and that recipe was worth the price of the book.

4 comments:

dbilberry said...

We have a similar cooking plan. I cook most week nights, weekends we either graze or Jeff cooks. I hardly ever cooked for the two of us before children though. I think as the kids grow older we may have to add a night where the kids cook the meals ;)

I'm not the best host either. Glad to know I'm not the only one. Not a skill I learned growing up. I'm getting better but still have a lot to learn. Not my favorite thing.

Yia Yia said...

It does get easier as you get more cooking/hosting experience under your belt. When I got married, I had pretty much zero cooking skills. My mom did everything (except teach me) and made it look so easy.

Unknown said...

I liked your post! I'm glad you taught me how to cook and prepared me to cook for a family. I had lots of practice while we lived on the boat.
I used to cook fairly involved things for me and Brent in our early years. Now, I usually end up doing a Pantry Raid. Search the freezer and pantry an hour before dinner time and see what I can come up with.

Fearless Farm Frau said...

AMEN. I usually cook. I enjoy cooking. I just hate cleaning up afterwards. Still, it's always a treat when Scott wants to cook or take us out!