March 4, 2006
Something is askew in my kitchen, and the problem begins with lasagna.
My lasagna specialty is an all-day affair, or it used to be.
Lasagna, properly made, takes time as any good cook knows.
The sauce must be cooked slowly for hours. The noodles must be perfectly prepared and layered carefully in the baking dish. Seasoning takes awhile to accomplish its mission in lasagna; it cannot be rushed. Lasagna must not be served immediately and needs to cool and solidify.
The key to excellent lasagna demands one very important ingredient—time.
And, time is what is currently out of kilter in my kitchen.
“Once upon a time”, no pun intended, I made my “all-day lasagna” for important family occasions several times a year.
In those days, I joked that I even stomped my own tomatoes, just like Lucy crushed grapes with her feet in the wine vat. Remember her famous I Love Lucy episode, Lucy’s Italian Movie?
Cooking lasagna, or just about anything else, gets cock-eyed fast if one tries to skip steps and hurry things along.
Thus, “not enough time” is a wonderful excuse to avoid cooking.
One must not hurry the culinary arts.
Experts say that lack of time should not be an excuse. Everyone knows time is plentiful for “empty-nesters”.
It is my observation, however, that time, just like an empty closet, tends to fill up no matter how often you clear your calendar.
Additionally, lack of time is not my only justification for having an aversion to the kitchen these days.
Truth is, that those of us who have cooked for decades, are burned out.
I used to say I cooked for a hay crew. Actually, it was just four boys and a husband who ate two or three meals at home each day.
Classic burnout.
There are exceptions, however, to those of us who dodge cooking.
My friend Beth still loves to cook, so she gets a cookbook for Christmas from me. Paige gets one, too. They are excellent cooks and still seem to enjoy it, although I have no idea why. Personally, I just like the pictures.
My cousin, Dorothy, agrees with me and says she would just as soon take a bull dozier to her kitchen as not.
Many other women I know, who have cooked for eons, say they never cook anymore either.
In some cases, husbands may take up cooking as a hobby, so dinners are possible in a few households.
I must confess that I do love “food TV” and stars, Emeril Lagosse and Paula Deen. I have eaten in each of their restaurants, Emeril’s in New Orleans and Paula’s in Savannah, Georgia. No problem with that aspect of cooking. Let them be the experts—I’ll just enjoy their dishes from the dining room and stay far from the kitchen!
Most of my women friends, when asked if they still cook, simply answer, “Cook? I haven’t cooked all week. Actually, I do not remember when I cooked last.”
Others just laugh at the absurdity of the question.
Who cooks?
Apparently, not even young single women.
Take Bridget Jones for instance. She gives quite a lot of cooking advice in her book, “Bridget Jones’s Guide to Life.”
In her chapter entitled, “The Art of Cuisine”, Bridget Jones offers this guidance:
As for me, I am already in the car waiting if anyone even mentions the word “restaurant.”
I wonder if there is a job out there where all I have to do is take people out to eat. For that, I have all the time in the world.
