Cooking

 

What am I doing today? Laying around watching Tony Bourdain on Hulu. Knitting (yet another pair of socks - I keep wearing them out on my tile floors). Dozing. Listening to the rain pounding on the great room skylight. I'm glad I'm in a nice warm house out here in the woods - no traffic, few neighbors (and those are mostly friends and family), very little to worry about. I am truly well-blessed.

Even though I don't feel like eating, I need to cook. Cooking is such a huge part of my life - throughout the day, even on busy workdays, I think, "What am I fixing for dinner? What do we have for work lunches? Do we need to stop at the store or produce stand for anything?" My husband, dearest B, has an appreciative palette and is a decent cook in his own right. I'm a somewhat adventurous home cook that becomes infatuated obsessed with various flavor combinations. These days, I seem to be on a Moroccan / Indian / Egyptian flavor theme, so a lot of our dinners seem vaguely curry-like. And I do make the occasional batch of injerra, the traditional Ethiopian flat bread.

Today, it's beef chuck roast in the pot, surrounded by chopped garlic and ginger, sliced onion, chunks of yam, celery, tomatillo (just because it needed to be used), home canned tomatoes (drained), and coconut milk. Spices: sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, cumin, coriander, fennel, tamarind, fenugreek, and a bit of cinnamon. In the slow cooker on low for 7 hours. Serve over basmati rice. Viola! Dinner is served. Please pass the serviettes.

But will I feel like eating any? We'll see. I've been eating a little, but with no sense of smell or taste, well, frankly, I'm not really interested in eating. Last night I managed a little green salad with sweet yellow pepper and chunks of fresh orange with a little blue cheese dressing and a half-bowl of chicken mung bean soup (think of chicken lentil soup and you'll get it) with Indian spices - which was pretty enjoyable but I was glad I didn't take much because I filled up right away.

Even though I don't feel like eating, hubby does, so I cook to feed him. A well-fed hubby is usually a happy hubby at our house. :)


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Originally published 4/3/2015

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