Wednesday, August 19, 2009

eating...

and cooking. a. lot.

we can't eat out as much. because my job went down by 1/2. and we moved. and i'm not eating the sugar. so meal plans and weekly shopping lists have become my norm.

i can't cook through an entire meal without some diet coke and a bit of npr. if i drank wine, i'm sure it would be a bottle a night. because there is joy in the slice and heat if i can sip my way through. if not, i'm miserable and tired.

millie and ellis don't seem to enjoy my home cooked meals, unless they consist of chicken nuggets and hot dogs. clin has been pretty positive. until monday. cumin chicken topped with a radish and watercress salad did not excite. either of us.


but then we ate. and learned that lemon juice completely takes the bite out of radishes. and avocados can make the most un-appetizing looking watercress taste divinely fresh. yeah for success.

so last night i had high hopes for gazpacho drizzled in olive oil. with a bit of rustic country bread on the side to hook the sugar-ites of the family.

i assumed that two weeks without sugar would turn me into a gazpacho loving fiend. new tastes to replace the old. you know?

it didn't work. an enemy to gazpacho will i forever be. i couldn't even finish the bowl. and allowed millie and ellis to follow suit.

thank goodness for leftover diet coke and a platter of cheese....and the scent of rustic breadiness.

8 comments:

Tanya Dow said...

gazpacho, really? Maybe I need to find a lovely drink to sip while I cook also. I feel your pain with the whole kids don't appreciate real cooking thing...I told my family they were stifeling (sp?) my creativity in the kitchen.

Clin A. Eaton said...

To my credit, I had seconds of the gazpacho- but it tasted strongly of cucumbers which aren't my favorite. Like the watercress dish, we should had added tons of avacado.

Jacks said...

Tanya! I love that - I'm going to use the stifling my creativity bit. That's right on.

True Clin - you ate seconds and I couldn't even get down one bowl. Avocado, sour cream, or a whole bunch 'o' tabasco perhaps.

Arianne said...

I'm impressed by your gourmet-ness. And by your no sugar. You're cool.

Bradley Moss said...

Okay, home cooked to you is gourmet to me. You and Bradley should open a restaurant together.

lauren and krista said...

holy crap, jacks! you really cook. the salad looks gourmet. i don't cook anymore but i was thinking about doing it once.

lauren and krista said...

this is not actually lauren. it's krista. she always signs herself into my computer WITHOUT ASKING. just wanted to add that i share your love/need for DC and NPR whenever i'm ... pretty much doing anything.

Jacks said...

Seriously, how many people said gourmet in the comments? If you had known me growing up, (which many of you did), gourmet would never be used in a sentence associated with me. or the word cool, Arianne. So thanks for making me feel like a rockstar.... that word shouldn't be used with my name either.

I'm really, really trying to make eating at home exciting - and it may look gourmet, but it's not really. I choose recipes that are pretty quick and easy.

And I would also like to add that any success (not gazpacho) can be attributed to npr and diet coke. (Right on Krista!)