Cooking for myself:

It’s amazing what a little boredom can do…when I was a kid, when I would get in trouble (at least weekly), my mom knew the perfect punishment…grounded to my room.  I’m not the kind of person that likes to sit still for long; I like “doing” something.  So when I got sent to my room, my mom knew that it would probably become clean, and not just clean, but well organized and could pass any white glove test (even if I had to go beyond my punishment time).  Well, being home without my girls is kinda like being grounded to my room, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy long bike rides, walks around the city or hang out with friends (boy that almost sounds like an online dating ad).  But at some point, I have to shop, cook and take care of my basic needs.  I’m a bit lazy by nature, so I look for the best way to feed myself with the minimal effort.  Nichole because of the wonderful cook she is has made my pallet a little more tuned to the joys of food.  That means, I’ve got to figure out how to survive with minimal effort, yet not eat PB&J for every meal or some noodle in a cup thingy…I look for meals that can feed me for the week.  So I’ve tried my hand at becoming a “gourmet cook”.  I can hear you now, what does being bored have to do with cooking?  Well Nichole the fabulous cook she is can whip out just about any meal in a couple of hours, while the same meal will take me twice that.  So cooking has become the “cleaning my room” of my boredom (especially on the weekends).  I’ve made myself, a sundried tomato/goat cheese stuffed chicken and now my latest endeavor moussaka!  Now I picked moussaka because of Greece, loved it and have been craving ever since!  However, making it in Slavutich isn’t a small thing.  I can’t just hop to the store to pick up my ingredients, I have to scour the city for everything I need (hoping to find everything), In this case I have to actually find beef or lamb (unbelievable they had veal in the market this weekend…this happens like three times a year….it was a sign =), but now I have to grind it.  Same with the tomato sauce, I have to make that from scratch (blanch and peal my tomatoes).  I’m challenging every cooking skill I have as well as having to learn some new ones (like making béchamel sauce).  After a little more than three hours (not bad considering I had to grind my own meat) my moussaka is out of the oven and boy o boy am I excited, it smells and looks perfect!  The best part is I was able to find something to do for three hours and was left with a weeks’ worth of food.  I better be careful how much I say or Nichole might assign me a cook day.