Nonsense and Excitement
I love cooking….and eating….where my biggest problem lies is making too much food and then not observing portion control. I was at Haggen yesterday and I happened upon these magic small packages of meat. One steak, one pork chop, one chicken breast, one bratwurst…..and just like that my whole life changed. When buying meat, I always mean to come home and break down the packages into one serving and then freeze it…..but somehow it always ends up in the freezer or refrigerator in the package it came in…so all the meat gets cooked at once.
Now I know what you are thinking…I could just go to the butcher counter and order a single piece of whatever…but what you don’t know is that having to do that really drives my anxiety up. It’s not that I don’t like talking to the butcher…but I have raw meat issues. Sure, I’ll go to the butcher counter if I need to…but going to the butcher counter means getting closer to and smelling the raw meat…so I only do it when it is absolutely necessary. Purchasing bacon is one of those necessities because I only want a few pieces (I cannot be trusted with a package of bacon…). Okay purchasing bacon is really the only time I find it necessary to talk to the butcher.
I’m working on getting over my raw meat issue. I think it stems from when I was a kid. We ate a LOT of hamburger. I feel like we had meatloaf once a week. My mom would have me mix the meat, seasonings, and egg together with my bare hands. The meat would get under my fingernails and no matter how many times I scrubbed my hands, they seemed to smell like the raw hamburger forever. A few years ago I discovered food handler’s gloves at a restaurant supply store…they were a total game-changer for me. No more touching raw meat.
Well, I suppose that is enough nonsense. But I promised you excitement. Yesterday I took a break from working on my dissertation and did some sewing. I made Star Wars aprons for some friends of mine. I found the fabric at JoAnn’s the other day when I was supposed to be purchasing a crochet hook (which I went home without). I saw the fabric and the idea was born. I feel a lot of guilt when I do things for myself and I should be working on my dissertation….but doing things for other people is totally justifiable (we don’t question my brain…we go with it).
I got home from the store, made sure my friends would wear the aprons, and went to find my pattern…….yeah, I must still have some patterns at my dad’s house because I couldn’t find the one I am certain I have. But I did find my super cute 1950s housewife patterns. While my friends are comfortable with their sexuality, I didn’t think two males would want a 1950s housewife apron. So…….I used one of my Williams Sonoma aprons to make my own pattern. They aren’t as perfect as I would like them to be, but considering I freehanded them I’m happy with how they turned out.
Until next time my friends, take care of yourselves. Remember that you are amazing. You have made it through 100% of your bad days. You are enough.
