Tuesday, 3/5

I can't believe that's another regard in which I'm below average. But apparently, I am.

My “Weird Fact of the Day” yesterday was a simple one—that the average American spends about a thousand hours in their kitchen every year. That works out to a little over two hours a day which, for someone who likes to cook & bake, seems very do-able. But I started to think and that, as we all know, can be a very dangerous thing. So I sat down and figured it out, to see just how much time I spend in the kitchen every year.

And I don't even come close to the average, yet again.

I mean sure...there ARE some days when I might spend just over two hours a day in the kitchen. But those are far outnumbered by the days when I (sadly) spend little (if any) time in there. Some days, it's just a few minutes to grab something and shove it down my pie hole before moving on to whatever's next in my life. And those days are probably more the norm than the days when I get to luxuriate in the kitchen.

Although, in all honesty, there are many when I'd rather be in the kitchen than doing whatever else there is I have to do...you know?

8-)

Actually I had one of those days this past Sunday. After Loraine and I went out to play soccer (more on something we saw while doing it tomorrow) I made us a nice meal. Specifically, I made us this--

That's actually a riff on a dish that used to be one of Loraine's favorites at the old New York Deli in Marquette. It's penne pasta with artichoke hearts in a Gorgonzola tomato sauce, loaded up with fresh basil and topped with even more Gorgonzola. We ran out to my sister's grocery store a couple of weeks ago and noticed that they happened to have all the ingredients. So we picked them up for a day when we felt like using them, and that day just happened to have been Sunday.

And after running around a soccer pitch for two hours, we devoured it.

So I guess while I AM below average in the yearly time I spend in the kitchen, I try to make up for it. Those days may be few & far between, but when they happen, they're yummy.

Really, they are.

(jim@wmqt.com)