Cooked my first meal at the new place last night. M & M were both in Galway so it wound up being an all male affair for the breaking of bread in Hope Cottage. Five guy mates and the new beau all ravenous having come straight from work and laying into multiple bottles of wine.
I chose an old favourite that I can cook blind folded which was a wise move considering I was operating in a new kitchen. Apart from one minor crisis involving the absence of a strainer for the rice the meal was cooked with ease. I wasn't all that worried about what the lads would think--they're pretty happy with anything hot placed in front of them; one of them layers his food with an inch of salt prior to tasting it...
I was anxious however to impress the new beau who has already cooked me a really excellent risotto and who has displayed a taste for fine dining. I can cook better than a lot of my friends but I'm happy to cook basic meals in general and I'm no expert in herbs/spices/vintage wine/mouldy cheese etc. I can do a mean casserole and mashed spuds but duck a l'orange? No.
He said he liked my Rogan Josh but I don't think I blew his head off with a gourmet bazooka... Probably for the best - no point him thinking I'm something that I'm not. I won't burn the scrambled eggs but I also won't be making blue cheese sauces anytime soon. Hopefully he won't dump me for a chef de partie from L'Ecrivain in the near future.
The wine continued to flow post-meal and the conversation turned (as it inevitably seems to do these days) to American politics. Obama was lauded, Clinton was dissected and the beau's penchant for voting Green was attacked. Well used to the accusation of 'wasting his vote' he deflected criticism easily - isn't the biggest problem in American politics the two-party system? Isn't this what democracy is all about?
A 90 degree shift in conversation led to dissection of all the latest blockbusters at the cinema; poor Indiana Jones 4 got bullied to death and Sex and The City isn't even on the radar of possibility for the lads. Then we moved on to TV series of the last 5 years. Conclusion: Lost is back on form, 24 has lost it and The Sopranos will never be topped.
It being a Thursday night the lads had the good sense to motor home shortly after midnight leaving myself and the beau to tidy the kitchen while musing on the evenings ramblings.
I love cooking for others. I love bringing people together in a relaxed environment and soaking up the craic and interaction that follows. If I could afford to fork out for the cost of food for 6 people every day I would do so. Humans are social animals and eating alone is the saddest thing in the whole world.
The girls will be moving in properly on Sunday and from then on social eating is the order of the day. We've discussed this a lot and they feel the same way I do. No more meals-for-one or fast food; just proper meals at a proper dinner table with gallons of wine and bottomless buckets of conversation.
Man does not live by bread alone.
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