Holiday break

I'm having a few days holiday. No, I'm not going away. And I'm certainly not going away without the Fox. No, I'm having a few days off cooking. 

Today the Fox is doing it. He's doing a chicken pasta bake.

It has to be admitted the Fox only really started cooking when my disability had worsened to the level when I couldn't do all the cooking anymore. At first we ate out a lot or visited the chippy, the only takeaway option in the village we lived in then. Eating out though was expensive & often rather unsatisfactory. 

The kitchen in our old flat was tiny. He felt cramped, hardly able to move without hitting into something. There was no way I could be in there with him to show him how to do even basic techniques. At first, he did essentially ready meals, accompanied by tinned or frozen veg. He wasn't very happy, but at least it filled a hole in our stomachs & was in some ways less of an effort for us than having to go out all the time to find unsatisfactory food elsewhere.

Then we moved here. Now we have a dining/kitchen. He has room to move. While I was in hospital having an operation, he concluded that as he would have to do all the cooking at first, he had to move more into real food, made with raw foods. So began his real culinary adventure. Now 10 years on, he's discovered how much he enjoys cooking, how relaxing, creative & satisfying it can be. 

This is a source of great relief to me. I no longer need to feel guilty if I don't feel up to cooking or if I need help to complete a meal I've started. Not only is he enjoying doing it, the results are usually so much better than ready meals, eating out at many places or the average takeaway.  Indeed the results are usually much more satisfying than many a restaurant meal.

So it is I greeted his eagerness to do some more cooking today with a certain eagerness too. These days he always cooks on Sunday, the day I try to do such chores as bed changing & sorting out the washing - more than enough physical exercise for me these days. It's usually something quick & easy as he too usually tries to get some chores done too eg dusting under furniture which Angie, our cleaner, doesn't do, or a bit in the garden.

He usually does one experimental meal midweek. This week he did a spicy chicken and mint stir-fry. So I am surprised he fancies another cook this week, but fancy he does.

My holiday will continue tomorrow as we are partying. Friends, Fran & Den, are throwing a joint 80th birthday party at the golf club. Fran's birthday was in April whilst Den's will be in December. They decided to have the party midway between the two birthdays & at the weekend as some of their friends are still working but live a distance away. The party is beginning at 5pm. There will be a buffet from around 6pm. We're assuming we'll either have sufficient to eat at the buffet or we will stop at a restaurant on the way home.

Sunday of course will continue my culinary holiday. As usual it will be chore day & the Fox cooking. So by Monday I should be raring to go. It's not often I'm out of the kitchen for so long at a stretch. When we go away is the only real exception.

I confess I've always loved cooking. I also have to admit these days the physical demands involved in doing it are just getting too much for me. Cooking & the laundry are the last few household chores I continue to do. The ironing I can do sat down once everything is organised, so that I will continue. But cooking, much as I love it, does involve a certain amount of standing & moving around. You can't avoid the need to go from fridge to store cupboard to work surfaces to oven to sink, in whatever order is necessary. All that means some standing. I do sit to peel & prepare veg, to stir sauces, to keep an eye on things while they plop to make sure they neither go off the simmer nor boil over, etc, but nonetheless some standing & walking is inevitable.

I can't tell you what a relief it is that the Fox is not only getting some very palatable results but he is enjoying doing it too. I suspect in another year or two, as my condition continues to deteriorate, he is going to have to become the main cook in our house, with me just giving him a helping hand from time to time. As it is I suspects he would like to do more but doesn't like to oust me out of my domain, the kitchen, while I still clearly enjoy cooking myself. It's a difficult situation for any carer, knowing just how much to let a person continue to do, even if they are clearly struggling & it is becoming increasingly dangerous & as well as tiring for them to continue to do whatever it is.