Spurred from Sweetpea's great
journal entry, seems like a great thing to bring to the LL.
Here are a few questions to get your minds moving...
For any gal to answer:
- Do you love cooking?
- Do you like cooking any more when you cook for others?
- Do(es) your significant other(s) enjoy cooking?
- Do you feel obligated to cook, and does this taint your experience?
- If you do not cook, is it because you don't know how, or because it simply doesn't suit you?
- How does your role in the kitchen differ from that of your mother? Grandmother?
For those of you who cook regularly:
- Do you see it as your role as a woman to cook, or do you enjoy it "just because"?
- Are you frequently inclined to depend upon frozen meals, or do you prefer to build a meal up from scratch?
- Did your mother prepare your meals when you were a child?
- How much do you try to incorporate Organic or otherwise healthful products into your meals?
- Do you take time to plan balanced meals in advance?
- Does it thrill you just as much to shop and prepare for the meals as it does to eat them?
- Do you appreciate a helpful hand in the kitchen, or do you consider meal-making your "alone time"?
- Do you have a specific kitchen design that lends itself to your style of cooking or entertaining?
My response:
I love cooking. I enjoy it more when I get to cook with a group! I love cooking for large groups of people. I am vegetarian, and love introducing people to delicious veggie meals they've never tried before. I like cooking with groups partially so others can make meat dishes, which keep my carnivore friends happy.
I love cooking for others. Breakfasts are often my favorite meals to make. Because I wake up earlier than most, they wake up with a smile, to the smell of cinnamon/nutmeg-filled french toast, or huevos rancheros.
My mother always cooked meals for our family. Her meals were bland, and when I visit now, I find them nearly unbearable. My father's cooking has always been far superior, with refined tastes, but he only rarely prepared them. Our meals were by no means regularly served, we did not often eat as a family. I have since learned that eating with a group of people can be among the most rewarding experiences, and Tt and I make it a point to eat breakfast and dinner together each day.
I often get Tt's help in the kitchen, but it does not bother me when he does not wish to help. Sometimes, our little kitchen is too cramped with the two of us working on a meal.
One of my friends' mothers always prepared the most delicious goodies every time we visited. She had a social kitchen, with a bar that looked into the cooking area. She could easily keep up a conversation while whipping up a batch of somosas or hummus. We always loved visiting her house because of her unique culinary adventures. I hope to be a bit like her when I have children, and I definitely want that style of kitchen.
Meal preparation is a social event, made more fun when many hands - even little hands like my niece and nephew - get involved.