Everyday life can be disappointing. We all know this. It can get us down. It could get me down. How do we fight off getting down? By making our lives about something good, even when a lot of our time is consumed by other necessary pursuits, like working, or looking for work (which is almost worse than working, unless you're in a job that really sucks the joy out of you - been there). These necessary pursuits might take up a lot of your time, but they don't have to define you. Your life can be about other things. For me, I love writing this blog, I love spending time the people I love, and I'm looking forward to building a life with a certain someone who is, in a very special way, especially special to me.
I just finished watching
Julie & Julia for the first time, and that was the same message as the one in the movie! This woman, the one who decides to start blogging her way through the Julia Child cookbook, has a miserable life (but when you look at it, it's just a normal, average life), hating her job, moving into a noisy neighbourhood, and unwinds by cooking good food. She decides that what she needs to do to improve her life isn't something drastic like moving, or changing jobs, but a change in focus - food. She chooses to focus more on her interests, things that she loves and that make her happy, and in turn, she is happier for it, despite the job and the apartment! It's a hopeful plot, and a realistic one, too. Most people don't love their work life, and we don't all get lucky in that department. That's fine. But it's nice to think about the fact that unlike Under a Tuscan Sun (which I LOVE) and Sabrina, you don't absolutely have to leave the country and discover new people and new interests to be happy. Happiness can be found by having a real life outside of work (even though, being at work eight hours a day can make you feel like you live there and have no life outside of it).
So, speaking of things that make life sweet, my sweetie and I are celebrating two years together, and though it doesn't sound like a long time, it's special to me, because it is the start of something wonderful. I may not have my life figured out, might not have a place lined up yet to move into, might not have found a good job yet, but I have real love (and know the difference) and a relationship with a respectful, supportive guy who I have no doubt whatsoever is nuts about me. That's pretty darned good, I think.
Anyway, so the other night, I had the place to myself, and made a fabulous anniversary supper a few days early. As I mentioned on Valentine's day, there are perks to staying in. I fussed, all day, bought ingredients I chose myself, cooked, set the table whatever way I saw fit, made a playlist of incredibly sappy music (yes,
you don't know me was totally on it), and served a beautiful meal
I'll be the first to tell you that I don't have a lot of special kitchen know-how. A couple of simple principles (how to thicken, how to season, how
not to burn something), but I get by mainly on sheer nerve. And with YouTube. For my romantic evening, I made chocolate-braised short ribs with couscous and raisins. I've never braised before. I can almost count the number of times I've cooked meats on one hand. I certainly have never cooked a meal with chocolate, either! Most times that I approach a new dish, I'm glad I did, and this one goes to the top of that list! I cook lots of things I've never made before, things I've no experience cooking, with only the most general idea what I'm doing, but I do it anyway because I trust it will work out. Confidence in the kitchen is essential. Easier said than done for some, I understand. Cooking an be daunting. For whatever reason, being confident in the kitchen isn't a big problem for me, I just am, even if I'm not a fabulously accomplished cook. I am lucky enough to think that despite never having cooked whichever dish before, there is no reason why it shouldn't work. I've seen the recipe, checked out a few videos online (we live in such a good age when it comes to people learning to cook, there are so many ways to learn), bring a few of my own ideas to it (if there's a flavour I'm craving and I think it might work, I throw it in), and then I just get started! There's no fear that I will fail and will have to be proven wrong when and
only when it turns out to be edible. This lack of doubt is a blessing - it lets me cook what I want and enjoy doing it, without agonizing over the final result. Now, all that said, there are times, like this one, where near the end, I go in for a taste test, and it's... terrifying. I don't know if I can fix it, it might be helplessly botched. Don't despair. You are an awesome cook, and nothing can be ruined for good unless it's burned. It's all about the attitude. I fix it the only ways I know how - thickening, thinning, sweetening, salting, whatever I think will do the trick. So far, I've been fortunate, and mostly it all works out in the end. I've said before, if you can't cook, it's just because you
don't cook. Just because you don't cook doesn't mean you should stay out of the kitchen and have no business being in there, fooling around with food. There's no two ways about it - if you don't cook, how will you learn how? It's all about the leap! And when I say leap, I mean faith. You need to put your faith into your dish, and no matter how it looks throughout the process, save yourself the stress and simply trust it to turn out - in my experience, it often does. This is my approach to food. I used to not know how to cook many things, but I told myself not to be a chicken (haha, kitchen pun) and just DO IT! So I did! And now, I'm slowly applying this mantra to baking as well... scary stuff. Anyhow, the recipe I followed is from
Chef John's Food Wishes. Have a look! It's a bold dish, and it's incredibly satisfying.
Well, I'm starting to write a small book here it seems, so I will sign off for now, wishing you a great day, and of course, thank you so very much for reading - like Julie, I'm sure someone out there must have come across this blog! And if not, here's to sending off another post out to the void of amazing things that is the internet :)
With Love,
A.
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