There I Go Fantasizing Again

No, silly, not in the dirty sense. Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm thinking about food. I love food. Let me just say that again. I love food. I love cooking. I love eating. I love smelling. I know, I know, I sound kind of like someone who has a problem. I don't think I do. Not yet, anyway. I'm building to that.

(Image from here via Pinterest)

After over three weeks of eating out, I'm dreaming of cooking in the new kitchen. Can you blame me? I got my newest issue of Food & Wine magazine a few days ago. I've read it cover to cover. Twice. I've tabbed the recipes I'll cook. I've read blogs with recipes I want to try. Halibut and Summer Vegetables en Papillote, Quick-and Easy Peach Parcels, Rosemary Lamb Popsicles with Mint Gremolata, Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones, Gambas al Ajillo and so much more.

Beau does not love food. He is one of those dreaded eat-to-live people. He doesn't like me to trouble myself in the kitchen when he can just have a yogurt. Trouble me? As if. Getting flavors to work together is my idea of a good time. Meals should not just provide sustenance for the day. They should invoke conversation. They should please. They should be savored. They should satiate.

(Image from here.)

Growing up, dinner was a family affair. It was eaten at the table together. Cooking was a shared task. In fact, I think I became responsible for one meal a week when I was 13 or 14. I started with easy stuff like spaghetti and moved on to more adventurous meals. Generally speaking, when my mom was home and I wasn't off at practice or doing homework, I'd be in the kitchen with her. I learned most of what I know about cooking from her. I loved that time we spent together. It is still something I cherish when I visit.

Soups and lasagna I learned from the master, Perry. Had we tried his chili before my mom married him, I'd think that it played a role in their nuptials so long ago. It turns out that the soup/chili/crab cakes/etc. were just a bonus! And what a bonus they continue to be.

 

This fall and winter I intend to channel Perry (and probably text and call frequently for advice) by becoming a soup master. It turns out that beau really loves soup and I love the comfort in a steamy bowl of soup on a cool day. The abundance of leftovers for school lunches ain't a bad thing either! I hope to post many photos and recipes of my adventures in the kitchen. The fact that beau has one of these lovely Le Creuset pots makes me giddy. You'll see it frequently, I imagine.

I suppose I should wrap this fantasizing session up and get to work on the kitchen so is is ready to be used as often as physically possible. The floors are calling.

Is the family dinner table a thing of the past, or do you still have family meals on a regular basis?