Cooking for Pleasure

After moving into my new apartment, I realized that I didn’t feel quite at home yet.

That is, until I set foot in my new kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, and began to cook.

At this point, I’ve decided that when I rent a place to live, I am really renting a kitchen with a bed attached. Or, at least, that’s how I tend to look at it.

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In the last 24 hours, I have been cooking nonstop. I made:

Sausage and pepper marinara with Martha’s spicy tomato sauce

A savory stew featuring carrots, parsnips, brussels sprouts, fennel, and italian sausage

A spinach and feta omelette with reduced white wine and cherry tomato sauce…

AND, I am all set to create a new spaghetti squash masterpiece this evening for dinner.

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My fridge is currently full of fruits, vegetables, and that delightful invention: LEFTOVERS.

There is simply nothing happier than a full fridge.

I realize that after stocking my kitchen FULL of items and cooking enough food for possibly a full week all in the course of a day, I may be going a little overboard. However, there is an unbelievable comfort in cooking.

Prepping vegetables by the light of a glorious little sparkling kitchen lamp, listening to the sizzle of garlic on a brand new skillet, tasting bursting cherry tomatoes on your tongue… there is simply nothing better.

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Three meals in, I finally feel at home in this place. I am so grateful for my kitchen, the money that allows me to fill my fridge full, and the life-learned kitchen skills that my family instilled in me. I know that not everyone is this lucky.

I hope you all are enjoying this time of new beginnings: a new year, a new semester, and possibly– like me– a new kitchen!

And, in case you get hungry this week, I have a nice huge pot of stew waiting for you (that I can’t possibly eat all by myself).

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“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”
Laurie Colwin

Mandi