Cooking...

oh, you don't even know how much cooking I have been doing since I moved to UK. While I was in the states, I tried cooking during the weekends, but since Matt was gone travelling for work most weeks, it was fun to go out during the weekends. And since Matt wanted to catch up and visit some of our friends, most of the weekends we ended up going out.

When I was in Russia I used to cook on occasion for my sister and me, but that happened more so towards the beginning of my stay in russia (fall, winter 2007-2008), back then I cooked fish and lots of time breakfasts. Since my sister and I both ate lunch while at work, and we did not get home at the same time in the evening, I used to skip dinner, so most of the time there was no need to cook. Towards the end I was so tired and not motivated that cooking was on the bottom of my priorities, on top were things like sleeping and working. Although I always enjoyed making pasta during the weekend, so my sister and I could sit down and have a decent meal with some white wine. Like I said that happened rather seldom.

However, since I moved to UK I have picked up cooking quite a bit. Matt and I go out once a week, usually. Matt makes about one meal during the week, but the rest is on me. Of course, I don't cook breakfast. Matt leaves for work when I am still snoozing, and he is nice enough not to wake me up and make me cook breakfast for him. So, dinners are on me most of the time, but I don't really mind that. I am getting quite used to coming up with different things to cook. I enjoy the process of cooking, mixing all the ingredients together and the smell is always good. I have yet to make a meal that we did not like, although I am sure we will stumble upon such experience sooner or later. I get to make a menu ahead of time, figure out what ingredients I need, then it's grocery shoping time. We usually get enough stuff for at least 2 weeks :) which is nice. All in all, I am enjoying cooking (that is quite a shocker, actually), Matt says that I am pretty good at it, but I think he says that so he does not have to cook more than one meal a week :) I must admit, the fact that he comes home to have dinner with me before he goes out drinking with his co-workers at the restaurant is flattering (considering that his co-workers were getting dinner at the restaurant as well). Oh, so far I learned how to make chicken curry (with a spicy rice to go with it), chicken with mustard sauce and sugarsnap peas, salmon, backed rigatoni with ricotta cheese and spinach, beef stew with rosemary (it took me 2 hours, but oh, was it yummy), and a bunch of other stuff....but I am loving it. Of course, I have plenty of time on my hands to cook now, but you know, most of the recipes only take 40 minutes to make, so I am thinking that I will continue cooking when I get back to the states. It's so much healthier to cook from scratch, and it tastes better than pre-cooked stuff. So there, I am quite a housewife now....