What should I do with my alone time? Dance around to all the eighties music I love, and no one else does? Watch a Hallmark movie? Or, go shopping? I should edit the book I want my publisher to accept, that’s what I should do. So, did I choose any of these fine ideas?
No.
I’ve chosen to bake, and cook. After reading while eating my lunch, something I love to do, but can’t very often, with a retired husband under foot. I’m reading The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah. It’s so engrossing, I could read all day. But I’ve set some goals, being a goal-driven person, and I must accomplish them. I can read in bed tonight.
On the menu is homemade chili (which won first place at my church’s chili cook-off some years ago), and chocolate chip cookies. I must confess, the cookies are from refrigerator dough, so they aren’t as homemade as the chili, but they will still go down far too easily.
The first batch of cookies is finished, and it looks perfect. My four-legged vulture is hanging around for a taste test. I never have to look for Scooter after I turn on the oven. He’s my constant cooking companion. I might accidently drop a piece. Shsh, don’t tell the vet.
I don’t bake as often as I used to. One son is in the army, and the other one, although he’s still at home, works and has college, so there aren’t as many eaters. And, my husband and I don’t need the extra calories. However, a rainy day calls for homemade food. Chili on a hot, summer day just doesn’t sound as appetizing. Who wants to drip sweat into their chili bowl? Eww.
The downside of today’s burst of hominess, of course, is the dirty dishes. Cooking comes with its own baggage. Hot, soapy water doesn’t feel so bad when the indoor temperature isn’t nearing body temperature. Besides, I can look out on the lake, and the windswept eucalyptus trees behind us, and know that I’ve provided a delicious meal to go along with the cool day.
The cookies are finished. Baking them, that is. I have a little time before I start the chili. Enough time to clean up the detritus from my solitary, reading lunch, and stack the cookie sheets that are still hot to the touch.
When those days come, and they will, I’ll remember back to today, and wish for the drizzle, and the wind, and all those gray, grumbly clouds that teased me to bake and cook during my alone time. And I’ll miss them. But I’ll have steaming cobs of corn, and juicy watermelon topped off with an ice cream cone to look forward to. And maybe another day by myself.
Do you like to cook on rainy days? What's your favorite comfort food to make? I'd love to know. Maybe I'll do a recipe share on the blog one day.