Thinking about food

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Last night younger daughter arrived with her best friends and their fourteen  month old little girl.  Today Karen from An Artist's Garden was coming for lunch so this morning I set to work in the kitchen.

Yesterday I had produced two lemon drizzle cakes, one perfect, the other with a surprising hole in the middle.  However we agreed that this was fine as you could persuade yourself you were not eating yet another slice of cake but a bit more hole, with cake surround.

Today has been a day for making Somerset Apple Cake, carrot and coriander soup and now a beef casserole with a cheesy scone topping.

There was a small break there for going away and eating.

I love being able to produce good food from the contents of my fridge and store cupboard.   I love the fact that there is always enough in stock to know that I can turn out something good.  I would hate not to be able to cook.  Of all the skills I have acquired as an adult I think cooking and driving are the ones I most value, maybe even more than gardening!
What are yours?

Comments

  1. Pam 11 March 2011 at 19:57

    Oh, I don't know that I feel very skilled at it, but gardening, definitely. I'd happily never cook again. But then I imagine you're very slim, with all that cake talk. (Or on the other hand, very fat... no, I'm sure you're not.)

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  2. Tim11 March 2011 at 20:03

    I worry that as a History teacher I have no what they call 'transferable skills'. I can write a mean essay but not much else.

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  3. Zoë11 March 2011 at 20:46

    I could cook properly by the time I was 12 - Roast Dinner on Sunday, followed by cream eclairs and scones was the norm. Being the eldest of a big brood, with parents who both worked 2 jobs, I got pretty expert at lots of 'adult' things at a very early age.

    Learning to be kinder to myself will be my greatest skill, should I chose to ever grow up :-) But I think the best thing I have learned as an adult (and it's a pretty recent acquisition too) is learning to say 'no' and not feel consumed with guilt.

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  4. Fennie11 March 2011 at 20:48

    Skills? - gosh I don't know. How to Google something I imagine. How to talk to people and the beginning and the end of their lives.

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  5. rachel11 March 2011 at 21:46

    Driving, scone-baking, cat-medicating; order of importance can vary.

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  6. Fran Hill11 March 2011 at 23:27

    I don't mind cakes with holes in the middle. I can convince myself it's a low-calorie diet cake, like those pizzas which pretend they're diet pizzas just because of an itsy-bitsy bit in the middle which isn't pizzaed.

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  7. Irene12 March 2011 at 01:48

    Learning to be very selfish and put me first in the scheme of things. Since I live alone, that's not too hard to do.

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  8. Janet/Plantaliscious12 March 2011 at 08:37

    I know exactly what you mean, few things beat turning out great food for friends and family without lots of angst or emergency shopping. I think you've picked 2 of my top 3 - the third would be growing stuff from seed. Driving gives me independance, but illness means I often can't use it. The other two are a source of comfort and joy however rubbish I am feeling. Lovely post - lunch at your house sounds wonderful!

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  9. Karen - An Artist's Garden12 March 2011 at 09:28

    Lunch at your house IS wonderful Elizabeth - I am always deeply envious when I watch someone gently move about their kitchen and provide good food at a long table - heaven.

    Cooking and driving are the two things I do because I have to (from time to time)

    Skills that I have acquired as an adult? .... parenting, although obviously without the cooking and driving aspects of parenting.

    Thank you for a lovely visit and lunch and raspberry canes.
    K
    xx

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  10. Esther Montgomery12 March 2011 at 14:11

    Unfortunately, not cooking!

    Esther

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  11. Mac n' Janet12 March 2011 at 14:59

    I'm not a good driver, but the older I've gotten and with all the time in the world now I've discovered that I love to cook!
    And I've rediscovered crocheting.

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  12. Liudmila12 March 2011 at 17:22

    You are so brave! I do notr like to cook to much -maybe because I have not children but it passes in my head from timne to time. Now I have the idea to cook mousse. I have everything ready in the fridge but did not decide if I want it with apples or with coffee. So, maybe it has to wait one day more...

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  13. Elizabeth Musgrave12 March 2011 at 19:00

    Hi Isabelle - neither very fat nor very slim! Somewhere in between.
    Tim - tricky. There must be some call for great essays though!
    Zoe - I didn't learn to cook until after I left home. 12 seems ever so young. Learning to say no is a far harder skill though.

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  14. Helen/patientgardener12 March 2011 at 20:20

    I find its amazing when people say they cant cook - it seems so natural to me. For me the most important skill is time management so that I can do everything I want to do

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  15. H12 March 2011 at 22:06

    Driving has to be high on the list! Today, I have done a round trip to Cumbria to rescue student son with glandular fever, from his bedridden misery. At least, at home, he can be looked after; even if he does still feel rotten.

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  16. Anna12 March 2011 at 23:16

    I like the idea of your polo like cake Elizabeth ~ it sounds a dieter's dream. Hope that you and Karen enjoyed nibbling on it. I am not sure what skill I most value but I do know the one I regret not acquiring, which is learning to drive. In my next life ..... :)

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  17. Maggie Christie13 March 2011 at 16:54

    I'm with you on the cooking and driving skills. Absolutely vital. I think learning to touch-type has been a useful skill too.

    As for holes in lemon drizzle cakes - why do they do that? I used to be able to make perfect lemon cakes and then went through a phase of holey ones. Most odd! I'm beef casseroling today - with dumplings of course.

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  18. Marcheline13 March 2011 at 17:24

    You just have to keep on about those cheese scones, don't you? Trying to kill me with longing, I know it!


    AAAaaaaaarrrgggghhhh..... *clunk*

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  19. Elizabeth Musgrave13 March 2011 at 20:39

    Fennie - I like that! Not sure I have had enough practice at the end of life yet!
    Rachel - I can't claim cat medicating. Mine always manage to eject whatever tablet I am trying to give them!
    Fran - well they definitely are low calorie cake, stands to reason!

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  20. Elizabeth Musgrave13 March 2011 at 20:43

    Nora - it is harder to learn to be selfish than people might imagine, especially if you have been thoroughly trained in people pleasing!
    Janet - I would like to be able to add growing things from seed but I have not achieved the same level of skill yet. Working on it. It is a challenge for 2011.
    Karen - Parenting. I suspect it took me a while to learn even what I know now!

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  21. The bike shed13 March 2011 at 22:00

    I love cooking too, especially baking bread. And drawing - but does that count? I've drawn since I was child.

    Climbing taught me to tie knots, and kayaking to understand rivers and the tides.

    But most of all it is being a father; always learning, always a joy

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  22. Marcheline14 March 2011 at 22:18

    *peeking around to see if anyone noticed I've died of longing for cheese scones*


    .... nope.

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  23. Gail14 March 2011 at 23:36

    Elizabeth, I love being able to drive! I would feel so trapped if I were dependent upon someone to drive me about~I hope your visit went well. gail

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  24. Pondside15 March 2011 at 02:19

    I've always loved to drive, but taking care of my home, cooking and puttering make me happiest. Maybe it's a case of wanting what one doesn't have, and it's true that I don't have as much time at home as I'd like.

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  25. Frith15 March 2011 at 03:09

    Learning to drive (got my license at 28 or something) was pretty nice. But my first apple pie was a cause for real celebration. Living in the States it was a very loaded event - "as American as apple pie" etc. - but luckily the pie was a hit, and gorgeous! Learning to parent would be on my list too.

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  26. Contabilitate31 March 2011 at 11:50

    Driving certainly is my skill, but cooking? i have a lot of luck with google i can say :))

    ReplyDelete

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