All I Think About is Food

If I didn't bring dessert almost everywhere I go, I'm sure people would think I'm very boring. Sometimes I wonder how I even have other things to talk about. It seems like cooking is all that I do or at least all that I want to do.

Food is a fun hobby to me. Fun to plan, fun to share, fun to eat. I think I might be becoming obsessed though. Inspired by my sister's grilled cheese blog post, I waited a week until we went to Provo so I could buy a brie wheel at Costco. Yesterday I made muenster, brie, and apple grilled cheese. This sandwich has been bumping around the back of my mind for a week and a half. Is that too long to think about a sandwich? The real thing was as delicious as I thought it would be.

Even when I want to do other things, there are so many things that pull me back to food. First of all, unless I completely stuff myself I get hungry every two hours. How is that soon-to-be-little boy hanging out in my uterus still so small? Also, Marty and I want to spend less on food. The easiest way to do this without actually decreasing quality of life is to eliminate waste. That means I need to plan menus efficiently. More thinking about food. Additionally, doing anything special in Blanding takes planning ahead. If I want to try out that Greek semolina cake anytime in the next 5 weeks, I better have bought semolina flour on my last trip to a city with real stores. I actually do need to plan for a fancy Easter dinner a month in advance.

As if there weren't enough real reasons to think about food, I keep looking for excuses to be pulled back to cooking. I had some old bananas. Can't let those go to waste! So instead of doing dishes I made chocolate shaving and banana cupcakes topped with homemade chocolate frosting. It does not make sense to use $4-5 worth of ingredients so $1.50 of bananas doesn’t go to waste. What do two people need with 24 cupcakes anyway? Man, they were good cupcakes.

To prevent Marty and myself from turning into complete blimps, I am pretty good about getting desserts out of the house. I like to take things to friends and send extras to work with Marty. I sent 14 of the 24 cupcakes to the office with Marty. That means we ate how many at home? Darn. Does it make it better if it wasn't all in one day and do I have to count the little cake from the left over batter?

I do other things beyond cooking...sorta. I was asked to do a mini-class at a relief society luncheon. The demonstration was on making artisan bread (5 minutes a day recipe-I love it), so that probably doesn't count. Gardening is a hobby other than cooking. I like the satisfaction of seeing things grow after my hard work. I like the outdoor labor. What I like most of all about gardening is the taste of home grown tomatoes and having fresh herbs at my fingertips. So I'm back to the food obsession in short order.

Food is a very big hobby to me. But in reality I do other things and think about other things too (at least a little bit). I won't ruin the theme of this post by expounding on the other hobbies or defending myself too much. What is really going on, I hope, is that I am enjoying my life being simple until this baby comes. I can do what I feel like. If I want to make three different types of soup this week to experiment with homemade noodles, heck, why not? If I want to learn something or collect recipes, now is when I should do it. These next few months will be the only time in the next 20 years I will have that kind of freedom.

I wouldn't mind talking all about my ideas for Easter dinner. But instead, I think I'll go have some left over zucchini lasagna while I decide what to make for lunch. If you lived closer, I would make you something delicious. Food is more fun when it is shared.