Thursday, December 25, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008

Food Exchange

I hate cooking. There. I've said it, and I feel better for it! I know so many creative people who relish the opportunity to provide a tasty and nourishing meal for their families, and see cooking as yet another creative outlet. I don't. I should, but I don't. To me, cooking is a chore. It is something which must be done, and which takes time away from things I would rather be doing, like sculpting, sewing, drawing, reading, playing with the kids, or cleaning. Yes, I would rather clean than cook. Not that I am particularly fond of cleaning either, but you have to clean up after you cook, so I'd rather get straight to the cleaning and be done with it.

So, since I don't like to cook, I've joined a food exchange group. How much sense does that make?! At first glance that doesn't make much sense at all. The way the food exchange works is once a month each member (there are five families) makes five of the same dish. It needs to be something that will freeze well. Then we get together and everyone takes home five different meals to put in their freezer. So on the big cooking day, (which was today) I stress out. First, I stress out about what recipe to choose, wondering what everyone will like. Then, I stress about the grocery bill, when I shop for ingredients for a meal for four families of four, and one family of six. Then I stress out as I trash my tiny kitchen and dirty all biggest cooking pots I own.

But then the reward comes! My son Brendan arrives home from school and says, "What's that good, good, good, good smell?" (That's a direct quote!) Ha ha, it's called cooking, Brendan. Good moms do it all the time! And the rewards will continue through the rest of the month as we pull ready made meals out of the freezer so even on our busiest days we can have a nice home-cooked meal. Another reward is that we get to try new foods! Even though I was feeling the stress earlier today, now I feel like I have accomplished something. Now I'd better go clean my kitchen, so I can go downstairs to my studio and sew the night away. I don't have to stop to make dinner--I only need to stop to eat it!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Meet Avi



Avi is a special order panda. I was very pleased with him and my collector is thrilled to pieces with him, which means the world to me.