Recipes

I have been collecting recipes from TV shows, magazines, books and newspaper. The recipe binder is getting dense. However, I have not been able to try any of the recipes that I have collected. Here I am struggling with the role of being a mother, wife, and a homemaker. I can’t cook one thing well from all of the recipes that I have collected.

One day, I remember the quote “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. So I decided to just try 1 or 2 recipes and make sure I know them well and cook them without looking at the recipe (able to recite the ingredients). Almost every cook has a favorite dish or a specialty…and so I should have one to call it my own as well. This mentality began my cooking journey.

One of my husband’s favorite food is pizza and one of mine is noodle soup. So, it was no-brainer to start with those two recipes. I have not collected them from tv shows, magazines, books or newspaper so I went to youtube.com and found them.

I got to learn to make dough from scratch and make with wheat flour and put our favorite toppings. I even made pizza sauce from scratch which is something I normally buy in the supermarket for my pasta.

In my chicken noodle soup, the flavor was wonderful but I added vegetables to make it even tastier the second time around.

Overall, I tried the two recipes twice so far and my second time was better than my first. There is still room for improvements. And we are having these two dishes every weekend. I make sure I have the ingredients at home for these two dishes before the weekend comes. My husband loves the virtue that I am creating.

When I perfect these two recipes to my liking, I will add on 1 or 2 more recipes to my brain. In the mean time, I have two other dishes that I have been making for my husband for lunch (to take to work) and our dinner.

Playing the roles of a mother, wife and a homemaker

My parents used to work late till 7pm. They got home around 8pm and then they would start cooking for dinner for all (5) of us. We always have late dinners and after we eat, we stay up a little while and off to bed.

I don’t know how my mother used to do it. She worked 6 (sometimes 7) days a week and when she got home she still had to prepare food for us. I got spoiled that’s why I never learned to cook on my own.

Now that I have my own family, I am not working but I am not able to do half of what she used to do.

Right now, I stay home full time with my 1 year old toddler, I can’t seem to manage to take care of a toddler and cook some decent food for us (and maybe lunch for my husband to take to work).

An update on our usage of cloth napkins

It’s probably been a few weeks since we turn to use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. It has been working wonderfully. In the beginning, I washed them every meal but later I notice that sometimes we hardly use the napkin so we reuse for another meal before washing. It sounds gross but it’s not. Remember cloth napkins are generally 20x20 inches and they are fold up when we use them. If I wipe my month on just one of the many folds and it’s not dirty or greasy, it’s pointless to wash it.

I haven’t asked if my husband likes it better but he notice we are not using much of the paper napkin that we have. It is a wonderful change for the better.