Failure is Inevitible

I’m not cooking. I had such grand plans for this challenge, I was going to learn to cook! But it hasn’t quite worked out. I blame Tiff.

First off, my lovely wife got a new job that was suppose to keep her from getting home until about hour or so after I got home. This changed on day number two. Now, not only does she get home before me, waiting for me to cook something, but she leaves just before me in the morning and throws off my whole morning routine, but that’s besides the point.

Second off, on day number three, it was Tiff who made a pretty convincing argument for eating out. I don’t really remember the particulars, but I do remember the guilty pleasure of eating outside at Foster’s in downtown Manassas on a beautiful Saturday evening. The other several times we’ve eaten out weren’t all quite as enjoyable, but they still beat cooking.

We did find this amazing new place to eat, some Chinese place hidden away about a mile from our house. It was the next Saturday night, just about suppertime, and we were the only people there. Despite that, it is amazing. It’s the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. They served hot tea along with the food, which was amazing, and I’m not a tea drinker! And they had this hot mustard that wasn’t hot in your mouth, but somehow blasted your sinuses with this crazy sensation. It was amazing! We went back three days later!

Thirdly, Tiff couldn’t handle my cooking. What seems perfectly acceptable to me, doesn’t quite hack in the snooty world of Tiffany. Thirty-one days of dinners seems easy enough to me to break down: 5 spaghetti nights, 4 Pasta-Roni nights, 2 Mac’N’Cheese nights, 3 frozen ravioli nights, 6 nights of cereal, 3 nights of Grilled Cheeses, 4 nights of doughnuts, 1 night of chili and 3 nights of leftovers. Tiff likes a little more variety and after three straight nights of pasta was very curious what I planned to do with the left over sour cream. That night Tiff made Mexican. It was delicious.

And that gets to the last point, this challenge was always going to be an uphill battle, one that any reasonable me should have had the foresight to see the inherent flaws in. I mean, I’m not a cooker, I’m an eater. I’m a good eater at that too. Why should I shy away from that?

Cooking... with John

It’s a new month and with that comes a new challenge. I’ve got a long list of ones I’d like to try, but after I take out the ones that would be too hard, too much of a change, too dangerous, or just too expensive, the list is much, much smaller.

This month’s challenge stems from necessity. Tiff recently got a job that changes her daily routine around a bit and leaves me home alone until 6:45 or so. That being said, and with a great deal of anxiety, that leaves me in charge of dinner.

Over the last few years, me being in charge of dinner usually means a trip to some sort of quick-serve, not-fast-food dinner. Ever since Tiff became a vegetarian, the selection is almost always Five Guys or Chipotle. They’ve got some great food, but I need to learn to cook.

So this month’s challenge is a two-parter. First off, no going out to eat, especially on weekdays. And the bigger of the two, will be cooking every night.

Tonight, I’m starting out easy. On the menu is pasta.

Just to make it official:

Cooking: 1 Month