Progress in the Kitchen

In my family, no one would ever describe me as "the cook" and that is no secret. I was aware that my family still makes fun of me for the crunchy brownies I made years ago and on our last trip home I was told that my dad still laughs about the time I called my mom to ask how long to boil eggs. I remember another time that I called to see how long to bake a potato and my uncle, who happened to be at my parents' house, laughing hysterically at my lack of knowledge. I also remember after discovering exactly how long it took to bake a potato that I decided to go with something else. I have always been one to wait until I am absolutely starving before I actually make the time to eat and that doesn't always work well when food requires more preparation than pushing a couple of buttons on the microwave. When I was the only one eating, that worked just fine. If I was hungry, I threw something together and ate it. When I got married, not much changed. Due to our very different work schedules, Joe and I rarely sat to down to meals together and ate out a lot.

With the addition of the kids, I still managed to avoid cooking daily because of my varied work schedule, the fact that the kids got a wholesome meal at daycare, the abundance of drive thru meals (yes, I admit it!) and the convenience of heat and eat meals. Well, now there is no daycare and even with one in school I pack the lunches and snacks. (Hannah's class rotates the snack so I provide a snack about once per month for the whole class. The type of snack is predetermined. They have a day for fruit, dairy, vegetable, bread and cereal.) Drive thrus are limited and expensive--not to mention the added stress of understanding and being understood. My "work" schedule is no longer varied and I am feeling a bit more domestic now that I am officially a stay at home mom. Take all of that into account and you will find that I have turned over a new page in the cookbook of life or more acurately, I have opened the cookbook! I still use some convenient foods. The kids love the frozen veggies that I can steam in the microwave for 5 minutes and I found some fries that can be baked in the oven (most here are made for a deep fryer). But I have come a looooong way. When other people invite us over for meals or I overhear people talking about things they have made, I pay attention. I ask questions regardless of whether they show my ignorance. I have put away my pride for the sake of providing better meals for my family and guess what!? It is working!

As in many other areas in my life, living here has really caused me to step outside of my comfort zone. My family might not even recognize me in the kitchen now. I almost don't recognize myself. Just a few months ago, I actually gave another mom the recipe for my mom's chicken spaghetti when she was wondering out loud about making a meal for 12 people. I did have to call her because I left 2 things out, but I have never given anyone a recipe in my life--much less from memory.

I actually enjoy shopping here. The fruit and vegetables look very fresh and pretty even to my untrained eye. With practice, I have discovered a wide variety of food that my children enjoy eating. I have learned to start making the meals before my children's (or my own) blood sugars drop to a dangerous level. I have learned to include healthy things in their meals and we talk about what we are eating that is healthy and what is not as healthy. Nathan's class periodically makes a graph of what they have packed in their snack boxes. He comes home with the exact numbers. "Mom, there were 11 junk food snacks and just 6 healthy ones". Apparently I am not the only mom who struggles with keeping junk food out of the snack boxes. Hannah's class has cooking each week and we moms take turns helping out. We discovered this when Nathan began Pre K last spring and it was one of my favorite things. Last week Hannah's class made a pasta salad. It was really good! This week they made cookies and she was so proud of herself. I decided yesterday that I will be volunteering to help out with the cooking once or twice this semester. I told the home room mom that I need to be with "someone who's done this before" for my first time. But I am excited to learn some more about things that kids can make. Hannah is very excited about cooking class. She asked me why I don't let her do all of the cooking in my kitchen. There is a very simple reason for that. It is one of the reasons I have not been crazy about cooking all of my life either....

I don't like messes in the kitchen. Well, since I have 3 kids, I am forced to get over that. The kitchen is a mess more than it is clean. Ironically I have chosen my tiny Eurokitchen to start making progress when we had huge, amazing kitchens in our last two homes. In our last two homes, I could have made it most days with a table, a microwave and a freezer. Well, you live and learn, right?

To my Aunt Susie who has made it her personal mission to encourage us to cook as a family, as evidenced by the fabulous Christmas gifts we get each year from Williams-Sonoma, don't give up. We're making progress here.

The pictures are of Nathan making his own cookies this week. He gave one to Mr. Stephane--the hair stylist-- yesterday. Neither one of the kids are crazy about eating the cookies, but they love to lick as they frost so I am hopeful that they didn't lick the particular one Mr. Stephane took or that he was only being nice and threw it out after he left. One of Sarah just playing--she has a terrible cold and hasn't been in the best of moods the last couple of days, but went to the doctor yesterday and it is just a cold. One of Hannah and her friend Genevieve having lunch. Genevieve's mom will be picking Hannah up from school twice a week so that I can continue French classes so these two will be having lunch together two days/week. Today was their first lunch together at our house and it was adorable!