I had a brilliant idea a couple of weeks ago walking into the library. There is a display case in the west hallway and that day a bunch of cookbooks were displayed, including a children's cookbook. In a flash I decided that since Martin is mostly absent for dinner these days and my motivation to cook my general fare that the children almost universally complain about, THEY could start doing some of the cooking! I leafed through all of the children's cookbooks in the stacks and came home with a few, including one that gives "nutrition facts" because Eden's class has been doing a nutrition unit at school.Happily for me, Eden and Soren were excited about the idea. They both picked out something they wanted to cook and I retrieved the groceries. Last Friday night Eden cooked chicken chow mein. Soren was not excited about this and kept trying to steal the cookbook to sabotage her efforts but she won out in the end and he declared it a grand success, said he loved it. (Of course, I ask myself if he would have said the same thing if I had brought it to the table; I doubt it.) Eden said her chicken chow mein would be like "Thanksgiving in China" as we used leftover Thanksgiving turkey instead of chicken. I didn't bother to correct her because I thought it was cute. She was soooo proud of herself and so pleased that everyone loved her dish. She was ready to solve all of our culinary problems by taking over as chef. Fine with me. Sort of.
Several days later she asked to make cookies and I let her, anxious to encourage her enthusiasm. She mixed up the dough all by herself and then was interrupted by dinner. I had a rehearsal to deal with so she started the baking with a babysitter. At bedtime I was tempted to complain about the huge mess she made but thankfully bit my tongue; it would have made her feel bad and really it wasn't that big of a deal.
Soren also decided he wanted to make something--spicy chicken burgers-- but then aborted mission 5 minutes into the project. I didn't push it because I'm sure he'll be back to try again some time. He still took credit for all dining pleasure that night anyway.
I really am happy to have them help with more of the cooking even though in some ways it means more work for me--well, a different sort of work for me. Aside from additional clean-up, I'm realizing it is a little bit of a challenge for me to give up my sovereignty in the kitchen. Over the holidays we had all of Martin's family at our house and I found myself reloading the dishwasher, shuffling things around on the counters and generally displaying the kind of behavior one usually accuses the mother-in-law of, not the daughter-in-law. Or maybe in-law dynamics are ubiquitous regardless of particular relationship? In any case, the point is that I became conscious for the first time how unsettling it is for me to have that routine/domain infiltrated. I had a hard time with it when I had live-in help after Anna was born but I chalked that up to postpartum sensitivities. Now I know I'm just particular about it in general. Don't let me scare you off from visiting my kitchen though; I'd much rather have company and/or someone to cook for me even if it means the kitchen is utilized in a different way than I'm used to than not have that privilege (this means you too Thanksgiving company!). Maybe Jeanne was on to something when she cast me holding a gigantic blender in the collage she made for a wedding present (I should scan this, it's hard to explain). So there. If you didn't already know I'm kind of neurotic, witness the latest proof. Working with Eden and Soren in the kitchen could benefit me in all kinds of ways!
