Delete It From My Profile - and I Mean NOW.

Every time for the last 70 years that I've had to fill out a form which includes interests, hobbies, favorite activities or passion, I've always said the same three things "reading", "writing", and "cooking".  Depending on the stage of my life the lists may also have included, canoeing, swimming, hugging my babies, making my business goals,  entertaining, dancing, frat parties, , - you get the idea. 

In college I clipped recipes even though there was nothing to cook on in the dorm but our iron.  I was creating a  "portfolio" for my expected marriage - the goal of every 50s co-ed.  As a young wife I raided the recipe files of my mother and mother in law. I still have many of them.  Living in Tucson I learned to love Mexican food.  Moving to New Jersey after graduation left me with no Mexican restaurants, so I was forced to learn to cook Mexican from my husband's engineering prof's cookbook.  I love it to this day.

In the Chicago suburbs we  became part of a group who held neighborhood dinners and I learned to cook "faux gourmet" - Oven roast some chicken, throw a can of black cherries on it and  garnish with mandarin oranges.  Then there were family dinners.  Cooking for eight was fun and probably guided by what was left in the cupboard a few days before payday.  Some of my most creative cooking happened here. Think Girl Scout Stew and Pork Chops with Sauteed Apples. Don't forget the forays to the Hostess and Wonder Bread outlet.

I've always fancied myself as a good cook - and sometimes it was true.  More often, my kids, all of them, can outcook me.  My friends go to cooking schools in Italy, France, Napa Valley  and Santa Fe.  I just keep plugging.  Damn the Farmers' Market.  Last week the eggplant looked sublime with its maroon, silky presence.  How could I resist?  Moussaka calls.  Three @#%$#^&- hours later I had enough moussaka for a planet - with only two diners involved.  Holy Leftovers! 

Today it was stuffed peppers.  Great shapes, easy to stand up in a baking dish, no wax from the warehouse.

I could have read half my really great  book in the time it took me to chop, brown, saute, mix, parboil, fill, sauce, bake and baste this baby.  It tasted great - two of them are leftover.

I AM DONE.  Next time I want a great meal, I'm going to  one of my  kids' houses or to Trader Joe's ready to eat section.  Life is too short and I have a lot of books to read and sights to see. And I live in one of the great food cities of the world.

Take the damn "cooking" off my profile.  NOW.