Remembering How to Cook

Day Thirty Four.

I'm not going to lie to you. I think I forgot that I could cook.

Phil's been doing it all recently, and that's absolutely great, but it means that I don't cook much anymore, and then I forget that it's even an option. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while... Maybe I'm just being lazy?

We do have our different tastes, so it would be better if we just took it in turns. Or if we each cooked two nights in a row - something we used to do a couple of years ago which worked out really well, and for much longer than expected. Phil likes complicated meaty, creamy, fried, roasted, fatty, multi-flavoured affairs. I like simple (preferably steamed or stir-fried) vegetables, noodles, and basic stuff you can cook in two pans maximum, maybe with a little chunk of butter or some grated cheese melting over the top. Phil is the better cook, and gets a lot of pleasure out of cooking. But unimaginative as it may sound, I absolutely adore noodles and vegetables with a blob of pesto and some grated cheddar on the top. I could eat it several times a week without growing bored.

This evening I suddenly got it in my head that I should cook up some vegetables. When I went to the fridge I discovered that we didn't have much in the way of variety: one huge cauliflower and some leftover new potatoes, yesterday's peas and a couple of carrots... Hmm... Cauliflower cheese, anyone?

Actually it turned out really well. I used three saucepans - three! - one in which to steam the cauliflower and carrots (and to which I later added the cooked potatoes and peas), one for homemade white sauce, and the third to fry up some onions and garlic in butter. Then I threw them all together in a large baking tray, grated loads of cheese over the top, and put it under the grill.

Add a large bowl of salad, and hopefully everybody's happy. Except there's no meat. But there's no lack in the creaminess department, and we all love cheese, right?
:)