When I’m home alone I don’t cook. I’m a “live off of soup, salad, and sandwiches” kind of girl. I just don’t see the point of cooking for one.

When Drew’s home I don’t tend to cook either. Now, don’t assume that because I don’t cook that I can’t cook. I can. Drew’s come to my defence on that count many times.

Many years ago I used to dream of growing up to be a gourmet chef. I changed my mind when I determined how repetitive some aspects of mass cooking can be. Food allergies also helped damper my enthusiam for cooking as a profession. Apparently, I’m working at the right place if I ever change my mind and decide to take cooking classes. My college is home to one of the best cooking schools in the country.

Drew cooks and bakes. He enjoys it. I don’t.

Many years ago – back when we were first married – Drew volunteered to cook a meal and told me to get out of his kitchen. I did and have rarely been back.

I’ve been told I’m a good cook. I used to cook sauces from scratch. I have a talent for spicing dishes and still spice some of Drew’s concoctions on occassion.

My dad taught me to cook one summer when my mom and sister were visiting family overseas. I’m sure it was an act of self-defence. If I couldn’t cook he’d have had to suffer a series of horrible meals for weeks on end. Dad cooked all the big meals when we were kids – hams, roasts, turkeys. Mom’s specialty was home made soup and deserts. On her last visit she taught Drew to make soup. Yum!

Tonight I gave into the urge and put together a stir fry for dinner. Extra virgin olive oil. Red, yellow and green bell peppers. Sweet yellow onion. Mushrooms. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Secret spices for the sauce. I made enough so that I had some left over for tomorrow.

If Drew manages to read this entry from the sandbox he might die of shock. No worries though. I think I’ve got the cooking bug out of my system for at least another decade. Back to soup, salad, and sandwiches for me.

That is all. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Warmer and grey.

It snowed last night and I’m not looking forward to shoveling duty. At least it’s not too bad or crazy cold outside today. Hopefully it stays that way so I can get the walkway cleared in the afternoon/evening. I suspect we won’t be seeing clear skys at all today.

It’s a few days into the new year and I’m already suffering from blogging gaps. This is why I’d never be as crazy dedicated as Dawn was and sign up for the 365 days of blogging. Just wouldn’t happen in this household. Although since I started blogging part-time from my iPhone I have noticed that I’m blogging more frequently.

On Friday I was back at mcpyper’s place for another screening of Breakout of the Masala Kid. This, of course, was required because someone who shall remain nameless Loxley didn’t appear on Thursday night for the original screening. We traipsed to Montana’s for dinner and embarrassed the teenager (mcpyper’s son) for the duration. Poor schmuck was under the delusion that four adults would act maturely in public!

Saturday saw me drive half-way across the city in order to see my “niece” and “nephew” from Winnipeg.  They were up visiting their dad in Calgary and were in Edmonton to catch the train back home. Once again I was out for dinner. I’m seeing a trend here.  If I’m not being fed by my friends and neighbours, strangers are cooking my meals. Perhaps I should start eating something other than soup and sandwhiches when Drew’s gone and I’m at home. I just don’t see the point in cooking for one. Then again, I did have soup and salad for dinner last night. Even at restaurants I’m apparently stuck in a mini-rut.  After dinner I took some video of the kids and their messages for Drew. Today I’ll convert them so he can watch them on his laptop and burn them to disk with my horrific home movie/messages.

This morning I met the kid’s dad and step-mom for breakfast before heading out grocery shopping. I needed some more soup and luncheon meat you see. And gas. And I finally broke down and filled my prescription for my epi-pen. Since I’m allergic to peanuts and my previous epi-pen is expired I had to buy a new one. It’s my least favourite prescription to fill.  They’ve risen another 10$ in price this year and aren’t covered by my health insurance.  It’s not the cost that bothers me so much as the waste. I’ve been lucky and haven’t needed to use one in years. However, since the epi-pens expire after a year, the old ones have to be thrown out and replaced by a new one.  We’ve probably trashed (well, returned to the pharmacy) hundreds of $$ over the years. Of course, the minute I don’t have one on me will be the day I end up accidentally injesting something peanut related. As I twittered earlier today, I’d hate to see the day when my life depends on whether or not I can afford to pay for the epi-pen. I suspect I’ll be going hungry for a while if that ever happens.

Drew is calling this evening.  Yippee!  I’m trying to contain my glee by making bad home movies to send to him in the next package. When I’m tired of that I’ll go back to finishing my pre-reading for the Psych class that starts Monday. I was hoping to get through at least half of the readings during my time off, but only managed to get through 1/8th of them. Not good.  I spent too much time away from the house this holiday season. I have a horrible feeling that I might fall behind if I can’t finish at least two more chapters this evening. Perhaps it’s not too late to put in for some vacation.

As much as I want to see my co-workers again, I’m dreading going back to work tomorrow. The dogs will likely tear the house apart while I’m gone and I’m not looking forward to coming home to a mess every day until they settle back down into the “mom’s gotta work” routine. Usually they’re pretty decent on work days and only act out on weekends but after this much time at home, I’m sure they’ll misbehave for a day or two.

Current Mood: Bored

Classes don’t officially start until Jan 5th but I figured I’d get a head start since the bookstore was kind enough to send me my texts early. Last night I managed to read all the associated readings for the first two weeks of the class.  Tonight I’m going to try to get at least one more week’s worth of reading completed.

Ah, the exciting life I lead when Drew’s gone…