food.

I've noticed this trend among a lot of people my age. We get out of college, out of dorm life, cease our reliance on a cafeteria, and we actually start supporting ourselves in a decent way and don't need to live off of Ramen, but we still don't have the motivation, desire, or know-how to cook decently for ourselves. One friend relies on frozen dinners for every meal. Another friend would be happy if nutrition came in pill form so she wouldn't have to bother with food and food preparation. Now, I loathe grocery shopping (as aforementioned). Nevertheless, I also can really appreciate a good meal... and I think we should enjoy good food (and yes, good beer, good wine, good cigars, too ;) I think food is one of those things we can be grateful for. Upon reflection, we could have been designed to get nutrition from a pill... but this would eliminate the need for taste buds, in fact, something quite needless, but something quite gratifying. To have a cold beer after a stressful day, or a glass of sweet tea on a humid day... it's pleasurable, and I am filled with amazement that God would give us such "needless" gifts so that we can have pleasure and enjoyment and refreshment and good things in abundance. Etc. I'm on the verge of being trite. But I'll continue anyway...

I want to appreciate food, just as I would appreciate wine or good conversation or sleep or a hug or poetry...

I just don't have a lot of motivation to plan and prep when I just cook for lone me. I have heard this from other friends as well... when you cook for yourself, well, what's the point in preparing a big meal? Yea, you get leftovers, but it's a lot of work. And sometimes that work doesn't seem worthwhile.

I have recently been involved in a cooking club, as you may have noticed lots of random food photos gathering on my flickr site. This has been a great way to have fellowship, fun, and yet also have an excuse to cook something fancy that requires more effort than I usually would make for a meal, not to mention, learning new recipes and eating good food other people have prepared. (I'm tackling tiramisu for our next gathering.) I find the group has been a fairly smashing success. However, it hasn't quite inspired me enough to implement more complex dishes into my daily diet.

My daily diet, thus, revolves around things that are quick and easy and don't require a lot of thinking or planning ahead... things like cereal, pasta, omelettes, smoothies, and PB&J. I would like to find ways to make good, even hearty meals, that would be fairly simple and not time consuming. Some friends tell me I should invest in a crockpot, which can do wonders to make good meals easily... but I don't have a crockpot and don't feel like buying one at this stage in my life. OK... so what am I going to do? I've been searching for some good recipes online... I'm finding a few things here and there, but heck, if anyone has a good recipe to share, I'd love to hear it. You can comment or email me. :)

TGIF!