Cooking Skills

Tonight I slowly lifted the spoon from the sauce pan to my lips.  The first taste of the blueberry-honey sauce was amazing.  I had just made it for the pork shoulder that sat in my crock pot all day with spices, honey and olive oil.  I took a slice of pork out of the crock pot.  I drizzled the fresh sauce on top of the tender piece of pork.  I savored the first and second and third bites.  Amazing.

I chuckled at myself. “You’ve come a long way baby,” is what I thought.  And then I really chuckled because I don’t smoke, yet that slogan seemed to fit perfectly.

When my husband and I first met, my cooking skills included making turkey sandwiches, mac and cheese from a box and warming up a can of soup or SpaghettiOs.  Prior to that I didn’t HAVE to cook.   I either lived at home (thanks mom!) or lived in a college dorm (caf food or take out!).  Ironically, my husband cooked for me when we celebrated his birthday for the first time together.  We both get a good laugh out of that now!

When we married, we had a deal.  He cooked. I cleaned.  That worked wonderfully for the first (pre-kid) six years of our marriage.  That all shifted when I became a stay-at-home mom.  It was all of a sudden my responsibility to make sure we had a warm (or sometimes cold) meal to eat.

Sometimes I have done a great job taking care of this.  Sometimes I have failed miserably. I’ve stared at the clock thinking, “Oh. No. What can I throw together?”   I’ve attempted recipes that turned out horrible. I’ve been reminded by my kids and husband, “Please don’t try three new meals within the same week.”  And sometimes, I simply amaze myself.  Tonight is one of those nights.

Now to go get some seconds on this amazing meal!

I’m taking part in a monthly blogging challenge through Two Writing Teachers.