Monday, June 13, 2011

And when I cook him dinner and I burn it black...


...he better say "MMM, I like it like that". -Shania Twain

Oh dear Suzanne you've done it again, for the third time this week.

1. Piece of whole wheat toast for breakfast
2. Another piece of toast right after that. Yes, I did.
3. Gourmet cracker thin pizza with homemade sauce, goat cheese, prosciutto and fresh herbs. Burned it up!

Oh and last week when I was sneaking a smidge of chocolate chip cookie dough from the Kitchen Aid mixer bowl, I wondered why it was overly salty. I mean, I only added the half teaspoon the recipe called for. Then it dawned on me that the small container of white grainy stuff in our neatly organized containers was in fact salt, not sugar!

What makes this so sad is that my husband grew up in Europe. He can go into our refrigerator and whip something up like he might be the long lost son of Julia f'ing Child. I am constantly in awe of the way that man cuts produce. I won't even try to emulate it as I would risk losing an appendage. His mother gets up at 8 AM and beings cooking some elaborate dish and at 12 PM his brother comes over and the entire family enjoys a two hour mid-day feast.

I grew up in America the daughter of a German/Irish/Midwestern mother who while a great mom and an awesome baker could not cook a meal to save her life. Bland, bland bland! My memories are of the two of us baking Christmas goodies, not cooking meals and this is apparent in my marriage. My poor husband. Now I haven't screwed up all of my culinary ventures. I can grill scallops, place them on a bed of lambs lettuce crumble grilled prosciutto on top and drizzle it all with extra virgin olive oil. I've made inventive salads and a perfectly peppered beef tenderloin. My French macarons even turned out OK, but I need a recipe, a plan that tells me to add x amount of y and place in the oven for x amount of minutes. I can't be bothered with the constant checking of the oven to make sure everything looks OK because I am on the internet, reading a book, watching TV and listening to music all while I am making dinner :)

My failures in cooking cause me to feel defeated and angry at myself but my dear husband just lets it roll off his back saying "you will learn for next time". I hope I do but right now achieving the title of domestic goddess seems like pipe dream. "sigh"

Sunday, June 12, 2011

You Were Always On My Mind

Yeah, so its been like forever. The Spring was wet and pretty much non-existent, in this town we go from rain to 90 degree heat back to more rain again. We attempted to escape the depressing weather in April only to be met by more depressing weather in the middle of rural Spain! While it was amazing experience and "farm" is not exactly the way to describe a property where the guest houses have jacuzzis and the the guests don't have to bother with cooking or cleaning, I was ready to back in the city after about 3 days. The longer I'm alive the more I know I belong in a city. Here's to hoping that works out for us sometime soon.

I have a special treat that will be coming to my PMB in 5 to 8 business days. It has been a long time since I got a new one, I see so many and just get sick of them after a while. I figure out what bugs me and then it's over. But this little guy was always on my mind and I've been stalking it since the day it was unwrapped from its duster and put on the shelf. I think it's the combination of the intensely saturated color and brilliant function that made it one I couldn't live without. Oh and the price I was able to score it for didn't hurt either.