The Only Thing Better is a Reservation

I love good food. Eating is fun, too. Growing up, I was treated to foods from many lands. Did anyone else's family have the Time-Life Foods of the World Series?  My mom loved those books and through them we were introduced to (among so many things) Beouf Bourguignonne, real german potato salad with bratwurst and saurkraut and my personal favorite Paella, which would be my request for my birthday meal for years (including recent ones-yes I have always had expensive tastes, the saffron, lobster, scallops-they would be my birthday gift).  Fanny Farmer and Julia Child were also dog eared and smeared with ingredients from much use.  I learned to appreciate great flavors and cuisine from all over and am sure it was a genetic blessing that I still managed to be a skinny little thing.

I'm not so much a fan of the cooking (my mom can't believe she raised me). I used to like to cook, or at least I tolerated it well, but things being what they were, or my family being who they are, any affinity I had for cooking was beaten out of me. First there is the vegetarian. Some nights it is okay. Those are the nights we are having fish or salads or something without meat. Then there is Pete. Pete hasn't a sense of smell. I don't mean that in the way most men don't have a sense of smell (making or breaking most marriages, I am sure), but Pete is smell blind. He has some hilarious stories of the torture and abuse he endured at the imaginations of his brothers. They thought he was making it up. They would parade a complete menu of smells past his olfactory member and get no reaction. They did get a reaction from the smelling salts up the nose. Turns out you don't need a sense of smell for those to have an effect.

Anyway, without a sense of smell also means without most of a sense of taste and a revulsion to a lot of things that make flavor in food. Celery, onions, lettuces, many vegetables are not tolerated by Pete. Then there is Erin. She is just picky.  Gillian is the only one that will not sit at the table picking around things with her fork, she doesn't turn her nose up when I tell her what is for supper and never asks, "Are there (onions, celery, meat, tuna, eggs.....) in here?"  I watch cooking shows, browse magazines like Cook's Illustrated and the website Epicurious salivating and dreaming, but the thought of spending my time only to have my family choose PB & J or cereal douses the flame in my food loving heart.  It is worse now that the only people left here to feed are Pete and Erin.  Not the receptive crowd one would hope for. 

To top it off, Erin won't eat leftovers.  Can you even imagine?  I mean, when I decide to put down the knitting needles to cook, I usually make something that will keep me out of the kitchen a second night.  I love leftovers, most things taste better the second day anyway.  And I am so.not. one of those really loving mothers that will make multiple meals for multiple tastes.  If you don't appreciate what I've put out there then you are on your own.

All of that to say, I had my vegetarian chili again tonight and it was delicious.  Even better than last night and I think you know why.  No.Cooking!  w00t!

Comments

[Julie]

I don't understand the people who don't eat leftovers; I'm with you - most things taste better the second day.

[Vicki]

Mmmm. I love to cook and try new things, but only when I want to -- I hate "making supper" night after night, and I especially hate thinking about it. Ms. Erin doesn't know what she's missing in refusing the leftovers! Yummmmm and, indeed, w00t!

[Carole]

Eating without a sense of smell seems pointless, somehow. Poor Pete. I love Cook's Illustrated, too. It appeals to my OCD tendencies.

[norma]

Oh, that is pure misery in my book -- I've always criticized my sister for being a short-order cook in her own house. What is WRONG with people who don't enjoy food? And leftovers are nirvana! People without an appreciation for food (and senses of smell - sorry, Pete -- I know it's not your fault, but still) ought to be shot. Hee.

[margene]

Any thing that keeps one out of the kitchen is good. We had leftover chicken last night with a salad. Chili would have been better.

[beverly]

Leftovers are the only reason I can tolerate to cook!

[Karen]

Would you like to borrow my family? They eat anything and will eat leftovers for days. Just watch out, they are bottomless pits.
I love leftovers. My favorite is leftover Thanksgiving dinner. I could eat that for a week!

[Manise]

Unfortunately my family balks at leftovers. I do serve them from time to time with protests from the ranks. They haven't learned that they do taste better with age. And I am guilty from time to time when my kids were young in doing the alternate meal plan thing. Now that the older 2 can cook- they're on their own if they don't like what's being served. I too love food and grew up overseas eating foods from all over the world. A well rounded palate is a good thing!

[maryse]

joe has the refined palate of an 8 year old so i get no joy from cooking. some days he just gets eggs and toast because it's just not any fun to cook for someone who turns up his nose at macaroni and cheese because i used ziti instead of elbows. (i kid you not).

me on the other hand, i'll eat almost anything. my mom insisted that we taste everything and the only time she ever made something different for us was if she made something really weird for her and my dad, like tripe.

[claudia]

Agreed. I hate cooking to begin with, but if there was appreciation around here for interesting attempts at food, I might be more motivated. But no.

[Danielle]

You can cook for me any day. I don't eat red meat, but I eat anything else and love a good meal!! (OK, maybe haggis is on the "no" list too...)

[Karen]

I used to hate cooking, when I did it all the time. Now that I can't seem to motivate myself to do it, I miss it. It should be a rule that the people you cook for *have* to love what you love to eat.

[Anne]

A guy I knew from high school had a head injury and lost his sense of smell. Lost a lot of weight...

If he can't smell, why do those foods bother him? Texture?