Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Lazy stew

This weekend, Husband and I are off on a small trip to see his family. It's about a 5 hour drive down to my mother-in-law's house where we'll be spending the Thanksgiving holiday. 3 of Husband's 4 brothers, and Husband's sister will be there, along with associated families. So it's going to be a pretty big holiday.

Now, early in my relationship with Husband, I had tried to endear myself to his family by cooking at a lot of the big family get togethers. I'm a decent cook, and I guess the 50's housewife in me wanted to impress them with my domesticity (a scientist and a good little homemaker! I guess she's a keeper!). This may have been a poorly calculated move, because now I am expected to cook at all of the family gatherings. Which I never minded before, but now.... I don't want to be in the kitchen. I want to play with my baby all weekend, but alas, Husband and I are at the head of a 16 person meal.

It's funny how I used to spend a Sunday afternoon working on a lovely stew, or make a roast. I'd bake for the lab, or make us pancakes on a Saturday morning. No longer. If we weren't so broke right now I'd be buying prewashed bags of salad and pre-cut veggies. I'm just not interested in wasting my time in the kitchen anymore. At least, not any longer than I have to.

Ah well. At least I can make other people do my bidding. Clean this. Chop that. Take the dog out. Get me a beer.

3 comments:

Jennie said...

I was going to mention how much I love the prepared items, but yes they are more expensive than buying raw food. I opted for the pre-made mushroom gravy even though I make a kick ass one myself. I figured when most of the items you make will require a lot of prep you need to cut corners when you can.
I was really irked last winter holiday because my husband and I took a 5 hour flight to our home state and everything we went to was a pot luck. I tried to be the one to bring say the rolls, or anything I didn't have to prepare. But then I felt super lame when my husband's cousin wife made pumpkin creme brule and had the little flame to finish things off. Plus a super cute gingerbread house. It's not like I had a kitchen to prep things with, plus all the traveling around between families.
Good luck!

The bean-mom said...

Ah, how having a baby changes you. My husband and I used to spend *a lot* more time in the kitchen before the kids came along...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Queen Zucchini said...

I find myself planning big elaborate meals (for just the 2 of us) and once the baby's been fed and put to bed, I look at the "menu" and get suddenly super tired!
This year we aren't cooking Thanksgiving dinner b/c we're guests at someone else's and all we were asked to bring was green beans (how boring). So I've decided the day after Thanksgiving we'll be cooking our own feast - wish you were here to join us! :(

Have a great time on your trip and hope to see you when you get back.