Here we go again!

I don't like thinking about food and eating. It has never been a source of pleasure for me but a chore. Ok, that's not exactly true. I do love dessert and would just eat chocolate if I could (See my blog A Year with Martha).  Real food cooking seems like such a waste of time, thought and money that could be used for more important things. I view food as necessary fuel to do all the things I really want to do or I need to do. Like at a gas station, I want to choose the highest quality gas at the lowest price, fuel up as quickly as possible and then get on with my life. Simple, easy, fast. I don't want to think about it again for a long time until the fuel light let's me know I'm running on empty. Can you imagine having to go to the gas station 3 times a day? All of my life I have been looking for fuel that will last longer so I can feel energized and focus on Self-Actualization instead of on meeting my basic needs.  As a woman living in today's world, I also care about looking good which in western society means thin. I know how to be healthy and I know how to be thin but both at the same time is a bit more tricky. I have read countless diet books from "French Women Don't Get Fat" to "The Bulletproof Diet" in search for this Holy Grail of quick, simple gas that is both good for you and makes you look good.  I have been vegetarian (24 years), pescetarian, vegan, and macrobiotic. Once I find IT, I am fine eating the same thing everyday forever without having to give it another thought.
So why am I wanting to learn how to cook by spending a year with Giada and her recipes? Because I have a second chance at having a "what I dreamed of as a little girl FAMILY". I have been a single (divorced), working mom of small children for the past eight years. All I have had to cook is omelets, macaroni and cheese (Organic ), pizza (gluten free) and  nuggets (soy). At the end of the day as I lay down in bed I would feel like a  "good mom" if I made sure they also ate 5 colors of the rainbow:Yellow bananas, blue-berries, orange carrot juice, green cucumbers and purple Acai smoothie. I on the other hand seem to be able to survive on coffee, almond butter, yogurt, walnuts, cheese, chocolate and the occasionally salmon.  After the divorce I thought I would date while the kids were with their dad and keep my life compartmentalized, separate. Then, I met the man of my dreams, my Soul Mate.  We moved in together to our DREAM house with a DREAM kitchen. We are a FAMILY. He loves great food and derives much  pleasure from eating. His ex-wife was a great cook and is accustomed to three real sit down meals a day with dinner being the highlight his whole day. In my first marriage I did not really have to cook. My ex-husband was fine with hot pockets, hamburger helper and saimin with grilled cheese. His favorite restaurant was Chili's, my Soul Mate's is  Nobu.  Big difference!  The kids have also grown up, they are now 8 and 13. They care about what I serve them and I can't just make them eat it because I said so. They have watched Food Network and know there is a whole world of different foods out there I have been keeping from them. I have also been  a vegetarian for the past 24 years and have not as much as touched meat in that time much less cooked it. But we are now a FAMILY. That is the reason I am wanting to devote my time, energy money and thoughts on learning how to cook.  I have another chance to do it right, the way I always imagined it could be. We all deserve and need it after all we have been through to get to this place: HOME.
Why Giada? Because she seems to have figured it out. She loves food, family AND is healthy and drop dead gorgeous.  I have been watching her show since I was pregnant with my first daughter but never made a single recipe. She exudes a joy of life and cooking I hope to be contagious. So I bought four of her cookbooks and had decided to go through each one from beginning to end like a novel. Instead I decided this was for the FAMILY and so had the  kids and Soul Mate (S.M) pick 5 of their favorite recipes from each one and headed to Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck! Mascarpone cheese was $14).
Here's to second Chances
Salute!