Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Reconciling Bare Feet

Welcome to “High Heels in the Kitchen”! While I have been known to bake cookies in heels on occasion, the title of this blog is actually in response to the phrase “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen,” which has always horrified me. Firstly, because being barefoot in the kitchen seems extraordinarily dangerous, what with the threat of knives and chicken breast droppings, and secondly, because the very concept is disturbing.

I never wanted children. I did not want to be distracted by children. I wanted the husband, but I was going to be an artist and career woman first, and a wife, second. And I vowed that I would never be sidetracked by what I considered “wifely” duties, like cooking.

Cooking is as new to me as marriage. Throughout the past five years, like many young couples, F and I had bounced between our two favorite meals: take-out pizza and a large chunk of meat with a generous side of noodles. I shouldn’t have been surprised when I gained ten pounds.

To get back into shape before our wedding in October, I dove into the unexplored realm of vegetables—and realized that I loved them. I discovered grains other than pasta—quinoa! barley! groats! My vigorous research on nutrition led to a serious interest in food and cooking. Now, I pore over recipes during my lunch hour, stop at the grocery store on the way home every day, and start cooking as soon as I walk through my door. I try to make a new recipe every night to educate myself about this new world of cooking, and my kitchen shelves, which used to be filled with Nabokov and Proust, are now sagging under the weight of ever-multiplying cookbooks.

I have discovered that I enjoy making elaborate dinners. Chopping vegetables is cathartic after a long day at work, and permeating the house with the scent of roasting meat fills me with a sense of accomplishment.

And while I am still horrified by the thought of being pregnant anywhere, much less in the kitchen, I will admit that when my new husband handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters this year and told them to “bundle up,” because “It’s cold out there,” I realized that being the mother of his children someday wouldn’t be so bad. These days, having a career and “keeping house” are no longer mutually exclusive.

So here is my blog, where I will chronicle my triumphs and failures in the kitchen as a newlywed. Topics will include my growing obsession with puréed prunes; my ongoing struggle to learn how to prepare dinner in less than two hours; cooking my first Thanksgiving feast, which was finally ready around midnight; and inspiring my meat-and-potatoes husband to try “weird stuff” like Brussels sprouts, duck breast, broccoli soufflé, and tofu.

And now, off to the grocery store!

3 comments:

  1. I use sprouts in my new post on my blog, good luck with you blog I'll come back again, funny name, I like it! Have you tried foodbuzz.com its good for sending traffic your way!

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  2. i love this.

    and i have yet to forgive you for that baby bombshell at walgreen's.

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  3. Hehe. Yes, I got you good :-) Don't worry, you'd be the first to know.

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