dinner

while at the beach, i picked up a new issue of Bon Appetit. haven't read that magazine in a few years. and i felt like i fell in love with food again. i started thinking about the meat/grain/veggie supper that is my usual 'treat' of a meal each week with a bit of skepticism. i used to make better food. with longer ingredients lists.

so i decided to up the bar. there was an article detailing the 'simple' foods they ask their applying interns to make for them. a roast chicken, a vinaigrette with greens and chocolate sponge cake. simple, right? the ingredient lists were pretty short. but i had not yet read the instructions...

and i quickly realized why i don't make meals like this anymore. oh so many reasons.

the time. the whole afternoon. for a cake. a chicken. a salad. the salad was minimal, i'll admit, and delicious.

the mistakes. the smoke alarm going off at least 10 times because, oh yeah, i forgot to put water in the bottom of the roasting pan. i cut the cake too soon so the frosting was soaking through the sides. the list continues.

the chicken. it was good. worth all the work? THAT much better than the normal chicken i make where i stick it in the oven and leave it, instead of basting with butter every 15 minutes? no. not that much better.

and the cake. it was good. but did not turn out the way i thought it would. nothing looked like the picture, friends. not one item.

all of this meant that, while everything tasted okay, i sat at the dinner table feeling exhausted and incompetent.

no more. i know there's a middle ground. i will still look for it. i won't give up. but i'm not doing this again.

we had baked potatoes and popcorn for dinner the following night. i earned it.