Bitchn' Kitchen

When it comes to a family household, the kitchen is the heart. The kitchen is where most important things happen. Not just making food and eating,but the creating, learning, talking and enjoying family time. Some of the best heart to heart talks have happened over our kitchen table.

Except....when mom's bitchn'... wash your hands, don't touch that, don't lick that, eat it or go to bed without dinner, eat over your dish, supper doesn't make itself you know....you get the picture.

When it comes to kitchen duty I am usually the one to take the reigns, begrudgingly. I don't like the planning, the shopping, the deciding what to make. With a very busy schedule, kitchen time is usually 'crazy mom' time.

Somebody recently asked me if I liked to cook. I couldn't answer that question. Do I actually like to cook? Hmm, umm, well...
The truth is I'm good at it. I'm a good cook...when I want to be. But do I like it???

That question got me thinking about the effort (or lack there of) that I've been putting in the kitchen for my family. I work hard to organize, plan, shop and make food everyday, but I don't work hard to make things special. This past weekend I thought of doing something special for my loved ones this Valentine's Day, and you know the saying...the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach....is true!

On Sunday morning I got up early and ran my scheduled 11k (btw...that is the longest run I've ever done to date...just wanted to get that in there), showered, changed, got lunch going for the kids. Then I turn myself over to my inner Martha.

During the course of the day I made my masterpiece lasagna...seriously this thing was a piece of art. I almost cried when I took it out of the oven. Just the fact that I took a picture of my food should tell you how proud I was of this. And...it tasted amazing!

The girls and I also made over100 cookies for Dee's class party.

There were so many of these things. I don't know what I was thinking. The worst of it was that I sent her to school with 60 cookies and she came home with 30. We are going to be heart-shaped ourselves after eating all these!
I also managed to make a lemon meringue pie for my sweetie, it's his favourite. All in all, I was in the kitchen for over 5 hours. (I took a short break when the in-laws dropped by for coffee, which I desperately needed.)

The moral of this is that no matter how much bitchin' I do over my kitchen duties, I really do like to cook for my family. I enjoy creating something that others (and I) will enjoy. For all my hard work I was rewarded with these....

The other moral of the story is....don't run 11k then stand on your feet on ceramic tile of your kitchen for 5 hours...my legs were crying the blues to me by the end of the night. Lesson learned.

So....do you like to cook? Or are you the kitchen bitch?