Dishevelled Lady? Me Thinks Not!

Just wanted to report that I am making good progress towards disposing of my formerly dishevelled self. Last night, I even managed to cook myself dinner. (Thanks, Mom--the can opener worked great!)

Something came up at work around 5:00pm on Friday (which is always fun), so I ended up having to stay late, until about 9:30 or 10. While I was working, I got it into my head that, since I didn't have any plans for the evening, it would be fun to cook as opposed to ordering out or heating something frozen up. I was thinking back to an episode of the Take Home Chef, which I happened to catch several months ago where they made turkey meatballs. For whatever reason, that just sounded really good. So I googled an easy-looking recipe for low fat turkey meatballs and spaghetti and headed to the grocery store on my way home.

There is one grocery store between work and home, which is small, and another one only two blocks away from my house, which is smaller. I got to the store a few minutes before it closed (I forgot this would be an issue for the small, family-owned places) and grabbed a few things I needed. One of my classmates from law school said that every time she tries to cook, she just ends up calling her mom every five minutes asking for help with the directions. I didn't think I was this bad (my position has always been, that it's not that I can't cook, it's that I CHOOSE not to), but I did briefly consider calling my mom from the store to ask if there was a discernable difference between crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes (I could find the latter, but not the former.) I finally did find "crushed tomatoes," but it looked more like tomato sauce/tomato paste and I wanted something a little chunkier. Luckily, I found a compromise--chunky crushed tomatoes. Unluckily, the store had no ground turkey, no ground beef, basically no anything in the meat department.

Undeterred, I decided I was on a mission. The corner grocery store by my house was closed as well (and even if it had been open, I doubted it would have ground turkey) and my car wasn't working so I couldn't drive to the 24-hour Safeway. So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided at 10:30 at night, in 30 degree weather, I'll just run to Safeway! As it turned out, however, there was another corner-ish grocery store a few blocks away from my corner grocery store that stays open until 11. I went to the meat section, and there was exactly enough ground beef for the recipe. I did debate going on to Safeway anyway so I could actually get turkey, but decided there were many good reasons to just go with the beef in the hand. (Probably a good decision considering (1) my Safeway's nickname is the UN-Safeway, (2) I didn't eat dinner until 12:30 as it was, and (3) I was cold enough just walking home five blocks with groceries and Safeway is a little over a mile away.)

Anyway, no major cooking disasters and I enjoyed both the meal and the satisfaction of cooking for myself. (I even remembered how to separate an egg!) Now that I have my fancy new can opener and a new car battery, I may try this more often. Fodder for future monthly resolutions, perhaps....