Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Taking the Wind Out of My Sails?

So, I know that I haven't written in a while and I'm sure some of you are wondering why. Did she go back to take-out and tacos? Did her computer fall out the window? Did the baby spill milk on it? Is she even alive? Well, I must say there are a couple of things that have just taken the wind out of my cooking sails and now I must 'fess up I guess.

The first is just that cooking in the summer is just tough. A terrible confession I hate to admit. I love the farm fresh tomatoes and corn of the summer and my family has always been able make a meal out of a simple trip to the roadside veggie stand. I think too that the carefree days of summer mean pulling together something at the last minute so you can have just a little more time at the beach or poolside. That doesn't mean though that I've fallen victim to TOO much take out. We've had lots of grilled fish and chicken and I even did a yummy pulled BBQ in the crock pot a few times. I have also remade a few of the Food Revolution recipes, a couple of the curries and also the salmon tikka. I remember this happening last year too at the beginning of my cooking revolution which, if you've been reading along, had me way behind by the end and I was playing a frantic game of catch up. So, maybe I should give myself a bit more credit. While sliced tomato and corn with some grilled chicken isn't a gourmet meal, it is a fresh healthy dinner on the table.

The second reason is that my writing time was completely thrown off this summer, another thing I blame on the time of year. My weekly writing time just wasn't happening, with school being out it just wasn't that quiet around here. But even though I haven't written I did teach another cooking class and I've gotten quite a few emails from friends and blog followers about recent recipes that they've tried. That's pretty cool!

So, maybe I haven't been as stuck as I thought. All summer friends, family and fans asked, "are you still cooking?" and "what are you going to do next?" And that is where the decision lies. Do I cook my way through another book? Teach more classes? What would be the next course of action in my revolution?

In the meantime, while I try to decide this next course of action, I still think all the time about how just over a year ago I couldn't cook at all. Look how far I've come! I went from pawning off the cooking duties to my dear husband to teaching cooking classes at Whole Foods. How amazing is it that in just 365 days, a celebrity chef and one of his cookbooks got me that far? Which reminds me, I'd still love to have the chance some day to thank Jamie for teaching me to cook.

So maybe the wind hasn't gone out of my sails….maybe I've just been anchored for awhile admiring the view.

3 comments:

  1. Good to hear from you again! Glad to hear you are still cooking. ;)

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  2. There's nothing wrong with a sabatical! How about posting that yummy pulled BBQ crock pot recipe? -- Allie

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  3. So nice to see that you are back at the computer. I am still looking forward to your answers of the questions you set up in April especially your to-go-dish. This is something we don't have over here and I so much would like to be able to do from time to time. /Eleonor

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