YEESSSSS to your comments about recipes and mealtime!! I've had similar thoughts lately about this (like also many other things in this modern capitalist world we live in) over-commodification of recipe development and sharing of mealtimes. So many of the recipes I see, even in places like the NYT or Bon Appetit, feel duplicative or overly complicated or called "fusion" for the sake of sounding fancy when in fact it's just what people sometimes to make a meal out of food in their fridge and pantry. I love to cook, but I'm also a busy mom who just needs to get dinner on the table and I don't have the luxury of time, nor the desire, to pour over dozens of new recipes to try every week. There's definitely some doubt that creeps in for me that I am not a good cook because I'm not out chasing new recipes all the time.
BUT!! I'm happier when I stop to remember--I'm actually a damn good cook, and I WANT to be known for the meals I create, even if it's the same meals I've cooked 100 times before! I WANT my kids to ask for recipes to their favorite meals when they get older, because that's what they want to cook for their kids because they remember how much they looked forward to that meal. I WANT the comfort of Friday pizza nights and Sunday morning waffles and other traditions.
It feels almost like the same thing as fast fashion and other over-consumption. We've created these cycles of demanding more-more-more, and have to put up this false front of not using something more than once or twice, because *how dare* we be seen actually USING something to the point of wear (like your dutch oven story!!)! Now it's turned into this constant reinvention of recipes and mealtime.
“ Over commodification of mealtimes.” This sums it up. Reusing or perhaps it’s just deepening (the knowledge, the joy, the connection, etc)
My husband and I are printing out our favorite recipes we have found online to put in a binder. We also just started using a couple of cookbooks. All of this in the name of add free, Pinterest free, don’t have to worry about a screen going dark, make the same meals, less screen time kind of way. It feels so good!
That's what I started doing last year! Whenever I go to make a recipe for the second or third time, now I just print it and have it in a handy dandy binder. I personally despise cooking with a screen, like how am I going to scroll if I have dirty hands!? Also feels less reliant on technology overall, which I am always searching for.
I'm glad it resonated — it's so hard because recipe developing is a job and a great opportunity to share creations, recipes from other cultures, broaden taste horizons, etc, but a lot of times it just feels like more content SLOP that overwhelms our brains. I truly don't see the need for a new recipe every single week. It's too much! I also feel passionate about this, and since releasing the self-imposed "need" to keep up with trying to new recipes, it has freed up a lot of mental load.
This is such a great breakdown of something most poeple never think about. The root flare explanation honestly made me go check my own trees and yep, guilty as charged. Love the framing around approaching neighbors without being preachy, thats usually whre things go sideways. Gonna pass this along to my HOA landscaping committee.
It's hard, they are really everywhere once you know what to look for! Hooray for passing it along to the HOA landscaping committee — that's a great level to enact change :)
We needed this commentary on the trees! I have an arborist, because I have tons of huge trees and I want to keep them. But also keep them healthy so they don’t take out my house. Tree volcanoes are foolish.
YEESSSSS to your comments about recipes and mealtime!! I've had similar thoughts lately about this (like also many other things in this modern capitalist world we live in) over-commodification of recipe development and sharing of mealtimes. So many of the recipes I see, even in places like the NYT or Bon Appetit, feel duplicative or overly complicated or called "fusion" for the sake of sounding fancy when in fact it's just what people sometimes to make a meal out of food in their fridge and pantry. I love to cook, but I'm also a busy mom who just needs to get dinner on the table and I don't have the luxury of time, nor the desire, to pour over dozens of new recipes to try every week. There's definitely some doubt that creeps in for me that I am not a good cook because I'm not out chasing new recipes all the time.
BUT!! I'm happier when I stop to remember--I'm actually a damn good cook, and I WANT to be known for the meals I create, even if it's the same meals I've cooked 100 times before! I WANT my kids to ask for recipes to their favorite meals when they get older, because that's what they want to cook for their kids because they remember how much they looked forward to that meal. I WANT the comfort of Friday pizza nights and Sunday morning waffles and other traditions.
It feels almost like the same thing as fast fashion and other over-consumption. We've created these cycles of demanding more-more-more, and have to put up this false front of not using something more than once or twice, because *how dare* we be seen actually USING something to the point of wear (like your dutch oven story!!)! Now it's turned into this constant reinvention of recipes and mealtime.
Clearly I feel quite passionate about this 😜
“ Over commodification of mealtimes.” This sums it up. Reusing or perhaps it’s just deepening (the knowledge, the joy, the connection, etc)
My husband and I are printing out our favorite recipes we have found online to put in a binder. We also just started using a couple of cookbooks. All of this in the name of add free, Pinterest free, don’t have to worry about a screen going dark, make the same meals, less screen time kind of way. It feels so good!
That's what I started doing last year! Whenever I go to make a recipe for the second or third time, now I just print it and have it in a handy dandy binder. I personally despise cooking with a screen, like how am I going to scroll if I have dirty hands!? Also feels less reliant on technology overall, which I am always searching for.
I'm glad it resonated — it's so hard because recipe developing is a job and a great opportunity to share creations, recipes from other cultures, broaden taste horizons, etc, but a lot of times it just feels like more content SLOP that overwhelms our brains. I truly don't see the need for a new recipe every single week. It's too much! I also feel passionate about this, and since releasing the self-imposed "need" to keep up with trying to new recipes, it has freed up a lot of mental load.
This is such a great breakdown of something most poeple never think about. The root flare explanation honestly made me go check my own trees and yep, guilty as charged. Love the framing around approaching neighbors without being preachy, thats usually whre things go sideways. Gonna pass this along to my HOA landscaping committee.
It's hard, they are really everywhere once you know what to look for! Hooray for passing it along to the HOA landscaping committee — that's a great level to enact change :)
Stay cozy, the storm this weekend is supposed to be a doozy!
We are forecast for 22" here, and I'll be simmering a big pot of bolognese today and hunkering down by the fire!
We needed this commentary on the trees! I have an arborist, because I have tons of huge trees and I want to keep them. But also keep them healthy so they don’t take out my house. Tree volcanoes are foolish.
So smart — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!