Cooking Confession
I have a secret. I've come to enjoy cooking. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone! Especially not my foodie friends. They'll want to start sharing stir-frying tips.
Back in January and February when I started this whole weight loss endeavor, one of my biggest challenges was that I basically couldn't eat out anymore. If I did eat out, the only 'safe' item was the salad. And really, how many salads can you eat in a week before you start dreaming of firebombing lettuce fields?
I had to learn how to cook. I had some basic cooking skills since my mom made dinner every night and baked brownies or pies occasionally, which is evidently more than some people's kids can say. I once babysat a girl at my house and she was gobshocked that my mother had made brownies from scratch. She was simply amazed that someone had made a food product using raw ingredients and not by sticking something in the microwave or the toaster. Poor girl. Her mom was recently divorced and working full-time, so I couldn't bring myself to blame the woman too much.
Those first couple months of adjusting to cooking all my own dinners was really tough. Not only did I have to spend anywhere from 15-45 minutes a night making something, I also had to find recipes that fit into my diet. It was rough. I didn't enjoy it at all. I considered it a hassle and a pain and wished I was just rich enough to hire a chef like Oprah.
But sometime in the past year my attitude has changed and I barely even noticed it. I started to accumulate several recipes that I liked that didn't take an entire phase of the moon to prepare. It's such a thrill to try a new recipe and discover it tastes really, really good. At a recent church meeting, my mother made a Parmesan Chicken recipe I found and people kept asking for the recipe. I felt so good that I almost convinced myself I'd invented the dish myself.
I realized recently that I actually like making dinner because I know I will be making something I enjoy and per bonus is actually good for me. As I progress closer to my goal, I find I can stand around in the kitchen without feeling much pain in my feet at all. (I suspect my 18 years of Catholic church services helped develop my tolerance to pain while standing too. That 10-minute reading the Sunday before Easter is particularly brutal.)
It's gotten to the point now where I'm actually thinking about buying a set of chopping knives. It's like I've gone completely mad! Before you know it I'll be looking for a flour sifter after all.
My approach to the grocery store has totally changed too. I hardly ever go down the middle aisles, sticking mostly to the edges, only darting in for the frozen foods or the diet sodas. They could have dressed the potato chip aisle in feather boas and Christmas lights for all I know. I never go down there anymore.
It makes me wonder, with all these changes in my attitude towards food, food preparation, exercise etc. am I really even me anymore? I think it's time for a revision number like they do with software. PastaQueen 1.0 has been upgraded to PastaQueen 1.5, now with better support for nutrition and fitness! The external changes in my body seem so meager compared to the software revisions in my mind. I am what I eat, but even more so I am what I think.
Earlier: Female Athletes Not Eating Enough
Later: Weight: 254 - Pounds left to lose: 94
Home: Main index
Posted by PastaQueen on December 2, 2005 at 10:03 AM
One think I've noticed over the years as I cook more and more is how the definition of "ingredients" has changed for me. Spaghetti sauce in a jar was once an ingredient, but then I became more sophisticated and made spaghetti sauce using canned tomatoes and tomato paste. The next step was realizing that tomato paste was a scam, and you could just reduce the canned tomatoes. Finally, I realized you could use fresh tomatoes to make tomato sauce. Who'da thunk? Along the way I dropped all the meat and spices and now just use olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and it tastes great.
HA! Who'd a thunk it? I do all the cooking in my house. And sometimes, I sneak in more than healthy things and never say a word.
Probably because I'm feeding myself & Mom who's over-carbed menu helped me to become the CARB-QUEEN that I am -- er -- was. Good carbs/bad carbs -- they all hate me and I think they're evil.
Good for you not only cooking, but beginning to enjoy it!
Ha! If you think that standing during a ten minute reading is bad, you should try being Russian Orthodox. We have to stand during the whole service.
If you do not see your comment, try refreshing the page.
Half of Me is a fascist regime ruled with a benevolent fist by PastaQueen and the macaroni military. Lively discussion is encouraged, but any comment may be deleted or edited according to the whims of your monarch. If you write something nasty, it will be removed, but only after I laugh at you and mock you to all of my friends. Play nice and I won't have to slap anyone with a wet noodle.
Comments are disabled some time after an entry has been posted to help keep the blog on a spam-free diet.
Hahaha, you totally SHOULD have a revision number! I find that as I lose weight and grow healthier, my whole being DOES change but maybe this is who I should have been all along, rather than that girl who sat on the sidelines hating herself. Okay wayyy too deep for a Friday morning, sorry!