Chained To the Kitchen Range

[poliphilo]

Mary Berry was piping stiffened egg white onto a baking tray. The end product was going to be an enormous, sticky confection of meringue and berries. "I've made this many times, " she said, "And I love every minute of it." And I thought, "Hmmm..."

I don't hate cooking. Sometimes I think its quite good fun. But other times I get weary of the slog of having to put food on the table several times a day. Right now- or last night to be more precise- I was thinking, "I've cooked this shit, do I really have to eat it as well? Hasn't it wasted enough of my time?"

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I remember when I start doing cake decorating, lo these many decades ago, and one of the professionals told me, "You'll get to where you hate the thought of doing it and the smell of the icing", but you know, I never have. I think Mary and I must be sisters separated at birth.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a happy state of affairs.

I wish I got more pleasure out of cooking.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel. Thank god for restaurants. That sticky berry thing is intriguing me though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Very simple. A base of meringue with blueberries and raspberries on top. What was unusual about it was the scale. The meringue base- cooked in two sections- was about a yard long.

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

I also have the problem of being disinterested in food when I've prepared it myself.

I've just had three nights in a row of other people's cooking (from restaurants I like) and it's been blissful. If I could afford to live this way I would.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think I would too. We eat in a restaurant roughly once a week. That's all we can afford.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Thank you for articulating a feeling which has plagued much of my experience in the kitchen. That said, I have hit a good patch, experimenting with recipes and such, which has been most welcome, and I hope it persists...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There have been times when I've experimented with recipes, but it goes against the grain for me to do things by the book.

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

Yes! The number of times I've chopped and browned onions, meat and garlic. Always the blooming same.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Someone ought to invent instant meals.

Oh, but of course, they have- and they're crap.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I got totally put off cooking by having to do mass catering during our days as Youth Hostel wardens. After a while, it ceased to be food, it was just stuff that had to be processed.

Having said that, though I find the routine of cooking boring, I do enjoy eating the final product. I never do fancy cooking though. I very rarely make cakes and then it's only simple things like Welsh cakes and scones. Perhaps when I finally retire I'll find it becomes more interesting, when I have more time for it and don't just do it in a rush at the end of a busy day.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Cooking- serious cooking- is something I came to quite late in life. I'm quite good at it- in a plodding sort of a way- but I rarely catch fire. Food, the preparation thereof- and the eating- has
never excited me that much. I always feel I could find better ways of spending the time. I like self-service restaurants because they don't keep me hanging around.