Cooking with M

I've been married to M now for a little over a year and its taken about that much time for us to start spending time in the kitchen. We recently moved from Columbus to Oxford where there are relatively few eating options within 10 minutes. As a result, M and I have been working together more in the kitchen to prepare meals. I still do the vast amount of the cooking, but he pitches in by doing things like clean up, getting things from the refrigerator, sauteeing onions--he's pleasantly surprised me with his willingness to help out and to learn to cook.

Last night we worked together on a recipe that my friend Nila posted to Facebook--her mom's recipe for potatoes. I'd post the recipe, but its not mine to share. But perhaps what I most like about cooking with M is that it is quality time we can spend together on something I love. I've spent months watching football with him, something I never, ever did prior to meeting him. Now I can watch a game by myself and understand what's going on, so is it that far-fetched to believe he might be able to learn how to cook at this stage in life?

Part of my renewed confidence in getting M into the kitchen comes from Julia Child. Julia is "in" again, largely owing to the Nora Ephron film but one thing I appreciate about Julia is that she was 37, only a few years older than I am now, when she started to cook. She of course embarked on much more complicated things but there is something so wonderfully inspired about someone in their mid-30s deciding to shift her focus entirely. But another part of me is sad. We've only just moved to Oxford and we've started a tradition of cooking together--so far we've made risotto, spicy Indian potatoes and then other simple things. And now M is moving back to Columbus and we'll be in a commuting relationship. While I will miss M and K terribly, I will also miss our new traditions of cooking together. I've always loved to cook for people but cooking with people is something new for me. The optimist in me thinks we will have weekends, holidays and those glorious summers which always remind me why I'm glad I wanted to be an academic and not a corporate maven.

I'm thinking that for now, maybe I can retool the way I use this blog so I can share a bit of what I've learned in the kitchen. And for now, the glorious potato dish.