New Hobbies

One of the many things that Junius and I bonded over was good food - we found our favorite restaurant together and many of our celebrations of special occasions have involved days of cooking in preparation. However for both us daily cooking was more about the call of the stomach than the love of creation. Hence we had perfected the scrambled egg, pancake, mac and cheese, Ramen noodle, meal-in-a-bag and stir-fry recipes. If dinner couldn't be made in 15 minutes, we weren't likely to make it. But since January when Junius started seriously shooting to turn in his dissertation before the March 15 deadline (which he made with time to spare!), I took over the cooking and started viewing it as a hobby. I now plan out the week by which recipes I want to try. We spend more at the grocery store but we get so much more out of our food. Between Real Simple recipes which feature seasonal fruits and vegetables and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking which was a Christmas gift from my parents I have been trying, learning, and eating quite well. Here is a picture of my first meatloaf (Balsalmic lamb meatloaf on a bed of red peppers, purple onions, and cannellini beans). It is hardly picture worthy since it tastes so much better than it looks, but meatloaf felt like a landmark, like I was cooking like a wife.

Another hobby since Christmas is Junius on the bass guitar. I gave him one for Christmas with help from my parents. Since we spent Christmas with them and packing a giant box would have clued Junius in, Mom bought the guitar in Memphis, wrapped it (that takes a lot of paper since the box included an amp, headphones, and other accoutrement) and hid it. It was the last gift opened on Christmas morning and Junius spent much of Christmas afternoon figuring out the notes and playing hymns. What with all of the dissertation work, he hasn't played it much since the semester started -- until today. One of his students used to play bass guitar in a British rock band and gladly offered Junius lessons. The first was today and Junius has been excitedly practicing now that he knows proper fingering and chord progressions. As I write this, I am being accompanied by "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen and Junius.