A Birthday Meal – Part I

The Occasion

I didn’t feeling like cooking on my birthday. When I’d booked the date with my mom, I thought it would be a fun thing to do, maybe even make it extra special.  You know, when you complete a challenge, it can add to the merriment.

But I was feeling down on my 39th birthday.  Some birthdays are harder than others.

My Version: The Results

Did the girls like coming home to a “delectable smell coming from the kitchen?” Did they love the dinner their Mommy made them? Did they eat it all up, right to the last morsel?

Oh, yes they did. They know better than to bruise my ego.

My Version

I’m waiting, the work has been done.  My version of beef barley stew sits simmering on the stove top.

I have to say Becky was entirely wrong about how it would take less time doing it on my own.  Whatever she and I added to the prep time with our chit-chatting, I used the commensurate in trying to locate ingredients and tools and second-guessing myself.

And here I thought I was open-minded

Since my first cooking lesson for Operation: Recipe Swap, something strange has happened.

I see food.

Everywhere.

I gave myself a promotion

I had registered a new business the day I unregistered from Big Village back in February, but it was just this weekend that I pressed PUBLISH on the site and made it known that I’d be jumping back in the game of looking for customers.  I’m an entrepreneur once more.  How appropriate since its Small Business Week in Canada!  I’m inclined to thank Canada, or more specifically BDC, for the grand welcome.

My new business is called Your Biggest Fan. I offer social media services to small businesses and artists.

Just like Becky makes

The Relationship

Becky was born 6 years and 2 months after me.  I already had an older sister and a younger brother; I was desperate for an ally.  My mom (and dad) accommodated my unspoken request and gave birth to one of my favourite people on the planet.  From the moment she was born, I claimed Becky for my own.  I would take her everywhere I went.  I taught her the alphabet and how to wear make-up.  She taught me how to make-believe and, today, how to cook. Or, to be fair, today she taught me how to make beef barley stew.

Of all of us Galbraith girls, Becky has embraced her dark domestic side the most.  She is creative and crafty and is always delighted to play the part of hostess.  She happily embraces activities like scrap-booking or make-your-own Christmas decorations.  She loves the letters D-I-Y.  Everything she touches turns into beauty. This gift applies to cooking as well. She gets such great joy out of creating and dreaming up new dishes even says things like “I’m so in love with cooking.”  Why don’t you marry it then, right?  Plus Joy is her middle name.  It was appropriate  that Becky was my first teacher.

The Day After

This past weekend we tried hard, didn’t we?  We looked around us and we found things to be thankful for within easy reach, like shelter over our heads, food in our bellies and family in our hearts.

Today #thankful will stop trending on Twitter and life will return to normal.  Today we might even retain the happy hearts we had on the weekend, but most likely with a proviso.  As thankful as I am, I would prefer things a different way.  If I’m honest.

The sign we post on our refrigerator door which is completely ineffective.

What I CAN cook… and what my daughters think about it all

Now that we’ve over-analyzed the kitchen… how be we do the same for my cooking skills?  What can I cook, you wonder?  This is an important consideration for the 25 gracious gals willing to show me something new.  As it stands right now, these are the things you do not need to teach me:

My assessment of the “Man’s Kitchen”

I’m taking a look at OUR kitchen with new eyes today.  My excuse for this room has that it’s a man’s kitchen, the place where my husband spends a lot of his time and the place where I do not.  (Think about it, guys, a new take on the man cave!)  J-M’s acquired responsibilities are grocery shopping and preparing meals.  I never do these things unless he physically cannot (i.e. he is away on a trip or is sick).  This means he stocks and organizes most of the cupboards with the equipment and ingredients he needs.

A man doesn’t mind putting Off in with the sugar… and garlic pills?

I’ve been trying to pay attention

So far 19 of you have offered to teach me how to cook for Operation: Recipe Swap!  This does not even include the women who do not own the internet and I definitely want to include in this experiment.  I figure I’ll need 25 in total, if I want to start right away and go right up to my 40th birthday (that felt ghastly to write).  The difficult next step is scheduling everyone in, but I have started.  Expect a call from me shortly.