Mangia!

Well, it is another day at work. The best part about starting my week on Sunday is that I get to ease into work. If I started on Monday it would be a shock to the system that no amount of coffee could aide. And lo and behold there is another holiday, Presidents' Day, I believe. My brother gets great enjoyment picking on the cush county job I have, as I am sure he is working a full week this week! However, my 'holiday' is delayed until Thursday. Come to think of it, I don't believe I have had my day off on the actual holiday--ever. Oh well...

As a bonus, when I arrive at work on Sunday morning, I get to chat with the girl who works the midnight shift before me. Sunday is the only day we really get to talk and catch up. This morning she was trying to find a good recipe for chicken. I am soooooooo the wrong person to ask. Don't misunderstand, I'm not a bad cook, I just don't know a lot. Truthfully, whenever I do cook, it's generally pretty good. Baking is my forte, however. Part of my frustration when it comes to cooking is that it's just me. I could make dinner for several people, but I have a hard time convincing myself that it is worth the hassel when I'm the only one.

Coming back to my New Year's Plan, part of the 'doing more for me' was learning how to cook. Like the dance classes, I looked into local cooking classes and didn't find what I was looking for. There are a couple of restaurants in the downtown area that offer classes, but I have an aversion to anything related to downtown. That may be an unfair prejudice of mine, but I can't help but relate "downtown" to politics, and I am absolutely not in sync with that crowd. But I have started buying real food to cook and prepare. I was so good last time and split the package of chicken as soon as I got home. That way, instead of a package of, say, 4 chicken breasts I had 4 ziplocs with 2 each. The chicken is always too thick for me, so I halved each one and put them in the freezer.

I have some really great cook books that either I picked up or were given to me. I do want to get one of Giada de Laurentiis' cookbooks. She hosts Everyday Italian on the Food Network. Her recipes are very simple, but wonderful! I've printed out a few of her recipes and they've turned out marvelously! But one of the best books I have is an authentic Italian cookbook my mom found a few years ago. I keep wanting to try making sauce from scratch, but it's an all day event and yields a LOT!! According to my dad, my grandfather (who was Italian) used to make homemade sauce from time to time. Unfortunately it is one of those things lost along the way.