Guess Who's Coming to Dinner!

Well, the answer is no one but me. One thing I love to do is cook. Sadly, over the past few years, I have stopped cooking much for myself. I often found myself thinking that all that work (Mainly the work of cleaning up--I HATE doing the dishes. I kind of blame my mom for this because doing the dishes was basically the only chore I had to do on a regular basis as a kid. I know, instead of being super thankful that I had only one real chore, I gripe about my fear and loathing towards dishwater...which kind of makes me sound stupid.) just wasn't worth it if I was just feeding myself. I would, however, tell myself that one day, when I got married, I would cook all the time because there would be someone around to cook for.

Since declaring 2010 my year of me, my attitude towards cooking caused me some pause. By telling myself that I would cook if only there were someone to cook for, what was I saying about myself? That I somehow don't need to eat? I mean, according to my statement, if it's just me there isn't anyone to cook for. Well, I can assure anyone that eating is something that I in fact do. So, what did I really mean?

I think I meant that I wasn't worth all the effort--the planning, the shopping, the slaving over the stove, the dishes (yikes!)--but a boy would be. In my mind, I wasn't "someone to cook for." Wait a minute, new, year-of-me said to myself, if you aren't worth a nice dinner, some boy sure isn't! Who said single girls were banished to a life of frozen, pre-prepared meals eaten from microwave-safe cartons? Who said you can't make something fancy--some dish that screams, "You must drink a glass of wine with me, and while you're at it maybe light a candle or two!"-- for yourself and no one else? This revelation led to one of the things on my list of things to do for myself: cook myself fabulous dinners.

With this in mind, I made dinner for myself tonight, and while I sat enjoying my pan-seared chicken with garlic sauce accompanied by sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, and a glass of white wine, I couldn't help thinking that I was totally worth it. I even kept thinking it as I did the dishes.