It Begins

For the past year and a half I've been planning a wedding. Even though I said I wanted a simple wedding, I still ended up spending most of my free time on the planning. Who knew my vision of "simple" was so complicated. I wanted it to LOOK simple, and I wanted the day to FEEL simple, but that actually takes a lot of planning to pull off. However, this was just a very long winded way of saying that I've now found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands that used to be occupied with thoughts like "ohh, I like succulents!" and researching things like the city clerks hours of operation.

So I've been setting some goals to fill the time, and one of them is to cook more. I hardly ever cook and I have a million excuses why not. I don't feel like cooking after a full day at work, my husband is a WAY better cook, I'm a little impatient when things don't turn out (I once stabbed a cake when the icing wasn't perfect), and also, I'm not really all that good at it. Even when I lived alone it was take-out most nights, and when I did "cook" my own dinner it was a plate of raw carrots, hummus and pita bread. So I'm taking on this challenge, and I'm starting small at first. Goal: Cook one meal a week.

Also, I want to make this as easy on myself as possible so I'm investing in a slow cooker, which is about my speed when it comes to cooking. Chop, throw in pot with seasoning, and leave it for hours. Okay, so I've never used a slow cooker before, I'm hoping this is as easy as I think it is. Actually, I don't even know anyone with a slow cooker. I live in New York where apartments are tiny, and people eat out a lot, especially people my age with media jobs. Or at least the ones I know. When I think slow cooker I think pot roast and soccer mom. I want to change this stereotypical view I have and reclaim the slow cooker as an urban chic way to be a slacker when it comes to cooking!

What I plan to accomplish is at least one full meal a week that is healthy, cheap, satisfying, and vegetarian, because Mr. is a vegetarian. What I want to stress is I'm not doing this because I think it's my wifely duty to cook. I'm absolutely certain he will still be doing most of the cooking. I'm still a little at odds with the wife title, I'll let you know when I've settled on whether I want to "reclaim" the title, embrace it, or whether I think the title means anything at all to me. I take marriage very seriously, but I don't like that it comes loaded with a title about what my identity should be. I recommend going over to A Practical Wedding for a great post on this topic.

So here goes! Step one: buy a slow cooker. Ha, yeah, I haven't done that yet.