Manic Chef

I love cooking. Like writing poetry, the act of cooking is inspirational, fulfilling, and connective. I focus while cooking, I go by feel, I use my gut. Mostly, it turns out ok. But, like poetry, I rarely have time for it, so grab my moments when I can.

Unlike poetry, though, cooking is an investment.  I could be inspired and rip a poem draft in a few minutes, put it in my book and save it for further investigation later. You can’t do that with cooking. This is where the term half-baked comes from: you have to start, and see it through to the last dish in the sink that needs to be washed otherwise, disaster. This is customarily nothing shorter than an hour, if it’s something simple. And for me, it’s hardly ever something simple. I’m not sure I know the meaning of something simple.

So when I finally find the time to cook, I not only don’t do something simple, I tend to pile on the extravagance. This resulted in more homemade goat cheese from Ali Oop, no sugar added cinnamon apple sauce, and an apple fucking pie. All in one night.

So, as you know from my other post, the apartment has been in disarray. The leakage issue lasted until this past Thursday when the final patchwork and repainting was done. During the leakage clean-up phase (about one and a half weeks) we weren’t able to clean, I was living off of the chair and drying rack where all my worldly belongings rest, and the electrician and painter were making paint and spackle and sanding dust. Needless to say , the place was a wreck and we were getting depressed about it. We just moved in two months ago and still haven’t been able to feel at home. Between the two of us we barely had time to hang out with one another, never mind hang our pictures and settle in.

So I decided, once they were done, I would not only put my stuff back in the closet, but I would also clean the house top to bottom and cook. Because what better to make you feel at home than filling the house with apple pie smell? Nothing really (it still smells like pie, too). And I had a lot of apples since L and I went apple picking last Sunday.

So, starting at about 6:45 when I returned from feeding the animals and milking the goat up at the farm, I:

• Did the laundry
• Vacuumed the floors
• Dusted the blinds
• Cleaned the litter
• Put my crap back in the closet
• Cleaned the kitchen
• Cleaned the bathroom

Then, and only then, did I feel comfortable enough to start cooking (it’s a sickness). By now it was already 9 pm. So, I got my laptop and the next disc of the Smallville Season 2 DVD box set and while it was playing I got started with the goat cheese. While that was heating to the pasteurizing 185 magrees, I pulled up a chair and started peeling apples. I like Tom Welling. By about 10pm, I had that pie in the oven and the house started singing with the homey sensations of Christmas and Thanksgiving.

L came home and joined me in the kitchen while the things cooked. I left the sugar out of the applesauce so L could eat it, but I certainly didn’t leave it out of the pie! I used Macintosh apples because I am an East Coast girl, and while this made the pie extra tasty, Macs without sugar in applesauce are not as delicious as when you use Gravensteins. It was good, but the big G’s which are ubiquitous in Northern Calif are a super sweet apple that makes an especially great no-sugar added sauce.

So, to keep our happy happy joy joy feelings about our apartment going, we went to IKEA to get some things. of course, the two key items we wanted were oversold, but unlike most of my IKEA experiences we did come away with some things! For one, a sofa table and a cute little round orange rug which is allowing us rethink the living room arrangement to maximize comfort. It’s not quite right yet, but it is definitely closer.

Now, to hang pictures!!!

Tags: apartment design, apple picking, apple pie, cooking, macintosh, rearrange furniture