There's nothing like home cooking. I believe in preparing tasty meals using the freshest ingredients - and in the home kitchen. It IS the way to good eating.
However - I do adore going out to eat, and particularly so at eateries offering dishes not typically prepared in my own kitchen. Not that I am incapable of trying new things. My cooking repertoire is pretty extensive, if I say so myself...and it always seems I have to say so myself....(smile).
Yet - I still question the wisdom of eating food 'outside' that can be so easily prepared at home - usually for much less cost. For example, when making pasta for a crowd, I have been known to point out that each plate of pasta/sauce served at home would cost that much more in a restaurant.
Home-cooked usually tastes better too...and you can get seconds.
A lot can be said for enjoying the pleasant ambiance of a meal in a restaurant setting...but wait....so many eateries lack for proper dining ambiance anymore. They are frequently so overcrowded that it is noisy, drafty and there is a din which annoys me no end. Dinner conversation is near impossible with that restaurant din. I, for one, do not relish straining to hear, or shouting to, my dinner companions over the dining table.
It can be very costly to partake in too many restaurant meals, wreaking havoc with the home budget. Perusing the monthly Visa charge card statement, I note with some unease that the most numerous (and sometimes the biggest) expenses are those restaurant meals.
It can be less healthy to eat 'outside food' - due to the fact that many of us make the poorest choices from the menu.
I know I do.
When dining out, I invariably gravitate towards The Fried and/or The Greasy. Time after time, these dishes win out over unadulterated, cleaner, simpler fare.
Why does that happen? I'm excited, I'm hungry and I'm not prepared for the consequences of eating over salted, oily food with rich, cloying sauces. I'm also pretty good at being in denial about the copious amounts of poor food choices that I am about to devour.
Reality check:
I absolutely, positively appreciate the health benefits of fresh, seasonal foods.
I enjoy eating such food.
But I haven't been eating so healthy lately.
(Good grief - yesterday, I didn't eat a fruit or a vegetable! How alarming!)
I love to cook.
But I haven't done much cooking lately.
Hmmmmmmm and Doh!
Whassamada me?
Something is amiss.
Something's gotta give.
Not so much a New Year Resolution for me (that would be setting myself up for failure to comply), but a very worthwhile goal nonetheless:
More home-cooked meals in 2008!
Yes Yes Yes.
Now... this would work especially well .... if only someone else would consistently clean up the kitchen afterwards....
3 comments:
oh don't get me started!! btw--i think the greasy, fried thing is so enticing b/c it's not something we usually do right? i know i hate doing the deep-fried thing at home because of the icky mess--bacon is about as far as i go. great post.
Announcement:
Me 'n J.'n T. 'll help clean up!!
Anytime.
Promise.
Frying w/ batter (or any fatty meat cooking, come to think of it) is a very splattery business that I don't look forward to the clean up of either. Though like you, John - I will do it for love of bacon!
Kitchen clean-up duty ALWAYS but ALWAYS appreciated here, bestest friends. Thank you!
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