Has it been forever, or is that just me?
Y’all, I don’t even know what the last thing I posted about was, but let me tell you, this summer has been crazy. Beyond crazy. But also super awesome. So I guess I should briefly fill you in, and there’s inspiration for future posts in here too that I hope will be coming soon. The crazy season started in May
when my family came in from two sides of the country for my little brother’s wedding. It was incredible to have my parents, grandparents, older brother and his wife and daughter, and younger brother staying with us. Can we say packed house? Why, yes, yes it was–and did I mention there were 4 dogs–but I loved every minute of being with family and had such a fantastic week with them. I have several large meal ideas from that to post, but with everything coming there will be lots of ideas to catch up on. The first two weeks of June, I got back into working out everyday right after the wedding and somehow pinched a nerve in the bottom of my spine. Yup, my big toe has been numb for two months. I have seen a medical masseuse and chiropractor but it was a while ago because I got a bit to busy to continue seeing them because the next crazy thing to happen was planning my husband’s 30th birthday party! We had over 50 people at this party on July 3rd, plus 5 out-of-town in-laws who graciously came down to celebrate the weekend with their son, or brother, and that was again an incredible amount of fun. Then, the day after everyone left, I started a new job with the best company ever, best co-workers ever, and doing something that makes me really excited; the only down side is that it’s an hour commute away. Really, it’s not a downside because I spend my morning in the car praising and thanking God and my drive home on the phone with family or friends catching up or jamming out to music–I honestly can’t complain. Finally, for the last 5 weeks we’ve been hosting two international pastors from Haiti and Chile. The pastor from Haiti left this morning and the pastor from Chile is staying until the end of the month. Can you see why there’s been a slight lack in blog activity?
Even though we went through a major life style transition while hosting, throwing parties, being invited to parties every weekend that were related to four other couples who were also hosting internationals from the same group, joining new groups and being asked to collaborate on new projects, I still have thought about my blog often. This last month and a half I have made a few meals that I didn’t really anticipate making, others I looked at and wanted the challenge, and still others that were comforting to the guests staying in our home. Every new meal triggered a mental note, “Oh, blog about that one. They really liked it.” Better than that, I was able to make recipes that catered to cultures and cuisines I’d never tried before but was told, “Mmm, almost a Haitian recipe,” or “Mmm, these taste just like latin eggs” (ok with that one I knew they would because my grandmother is latin and it’s her recipe, but it was still a complement!).
I sincerely enjoy cooking and making other people happy by catering to their taste, but one thing I did learn is that for the first time ever I started to try to hard to cater to a taste. Instead of doing what I like, I was trying to aim to please someone else’s taste buds. I’d say I got lost for a good week or so by making things over the top and just unenjoyable for myself. This was a mistake. I’ve been reading Kathleen Flinn’s book, Kitchen Counter Cooking School, and recommend it for a really interesting cooking read. However, a great chapter that she writes in detail about are tastes. Taste is a personal preference and it’s okay that we all taste different, but it’s important to recognize that the physical taste buds on our tongue are different and our preferences vary based on nurture. I have always trusted my taste buds and if I like it, 99.9% of the time others will like it too. I can’t even think of a .01% time…oh yes I can. My husband doesn’t like hot potato salad; I do. There’s my .01%. Anyways, my point is that when I stopped trusting myself and started trying to please someone else, it got to be a bit difficult and completely unfulfilling because I wasn’t enjoying it any longer–no worries, I don’t post those recipes.
I guess the biggest take aways I’ve had from my crazy summer are: 1. Make God happy, make my husband happy, make myself happy, and I can’t worry about everyone else (I’ve known this but apparently I needed a reminder), 2. Lasting friendships can be made over food and people will do your dishes without complaining if the meal was good enough, and 3. Re-learning my limits on what I can accomplish and when I need to say no and not putting extraordinary expectations on myself. There’s a time to play and a time to work. I’ve been working and this blog is my play time. I’ll be scheduling in more play time and taking the next couple of months a bit slower, I hope. Well, not August, but hopefully September and beyond!
Look for new seafood recipes and other crowd pleasers from me soon. Thanks for still reading. 🙂
Cajun Cravings 