Cooking Failures Feel So Personal

As stated a while back, my cooking skills are... let's just say, "not great". Recently I've been trying to cook more often and try new things. Usually pasta is somehow involved  because Chris and I both love pasta, and it's really hard to mess up the noodle-cooking part. But I've learned that whatever else I'm making with the pasta can turn out really "dross".

For some reason, whenever it does go wrong, it feels so personal. Like the world is out to get me... or at least the food and the cooking appliances are. Shouldn't that chicken know that I was looking forward to eating something my taste buds would enjoy? Shouldn't that crock pot understand that when you turn it on low for 6 hours, you're not supposed to come home to charbroiled burnt-ness? Doesn't the food know that I have hopes and dreams of cooking grandeur, and by-gum, when the dinner I made turns out yucky it's just demoralizing?

I've heard lots of stories of women who made horrible food when they were first married, but I still feel defeated. You see, the joy I feel anticipating the yumminess I'll soon be eating is like a little girl who is dreaming of going to Disneyland, and then the sadness I experience when the food comes out gross is like finding out that you are never going to Disneyland. Ever.

Hopes? Dashed.
Dreams? Crushed.
Dinner? Blech.

Someday, I'm going to conquer this. Someday...

A reflection from today.

It's easy for me to waste time. But, when I get moving and working again, it's like I can feel my soul saying, "Ahhh, that's what I needed. Thank you."

Something I need to remember more often.

"Work is always a spiritual necessity even if, for some, work is not an economic necessity." - Neal A. Maxwell