I have shared with you before that I love to cook.
Love it.
I think I am happiest when I’m cooking. Chopping vegetables, mixing a cake, creating goodness and love for my family and friends.
I love the process and I love watching the raw materials turn into mini masterpieces of goodness.
I love watching my family and friends as they dive in and savor every bite.
It’s one of the ways I express my love.
BUT
Creating these mini masterpieces, for me, is a very messy process.
Just ask SuperMan.
He is often called in to help me rescue the kitchen from imminent disaster after one of my cooking sessions.
I have been accused (often) of using every pot, pan, and bowl in my kitchen when I cook. I think that would be impossible – unless I were cooking a wedding banquet or something – as I have a ton of kitchen implements. (thanks to a generous mom and a generous inheritance of cooking apparatus from my grandma)
I will admit that I am not one of those cooks who cleans up as I go. When I cook, I am in the throes of a creative process. Cleaning is NOT part of being creative. Cleaning is the antithesis of creativity for me. Cleaning is not fun – cooking is fun.
And so, when I cook, my kitchen usually looks like this:
And that is just half the kitchen. What this doesn’t show is the counter on the other side that was filled with flour and the remnants of the just-rolled-out dumplings for the chicken & dumplings we had for dinner last night. (yummy, by the way. recipe to come soon)
I have also realized that I rarely cook one thing at a time. What fun is there in mono-tasking? My little ADD-brain can’t take that single-mindedness. I must multi-task or I will, well, I don’t know. (never been able to do that)
Anyway.
Last night’s cooking bonanza included: chicken & dumplings (with homemade dumplings) and chicken salad (with the extra chicken).
Lately, I have been cleaning up before SuperMan gets home from work. Last night that didn’t happen. It was kind of cute to see his face when he saw the kitchen. We tackled it together and it was sparkly and clean before we went upstairs to put the monkeys to bed.
Today, I’m making my baked oatmeal bars and probably getting some parmesan chicken going in the crock pot. (finishing up the last of the leftovers from this past weekend’s cooking frenzy) Whatever else comes will depend on the muse.
But, I can assure you – it’s gonna get messy.
Thoughts Along Life's Highway 