Current mood:

accomplished

Sunday Update
Over the past couple weeks I have somewhat slipped from my Domestic God perch. This is an attempt to reclaim the throne.

Yesterday (and Friday too) I spent cleaning. The kitchen was…well if a health inspector had been round, it would have been condemned. With the loss of our smallest kitty, and all the painting/redecorating I’ve been doing I just couldn’t be buggered and it showed. The dishes are all tucked away in their cupboards and I have a work surface and floor that Mr. Clean could be proud of. I also baked and made dinner in the process and as all of you know, that meant more dishes, but I obsess about dishes I washed, when I should be talking about the dishes I made.

I made some tasty Shepard’s Pie. I realize to those of your without an English heritage, ground meat, stewed with carrots, celery, onions, and peas, covered in mashed potatoes and then baked in the oven doesn’t sound like ambrosia, but it’s actually a fairly labor intensive dish, and to me it’s a memory of my childhood. I can’t wait to re-heat it for lunch, because like most stewed or casserole dishes it’s much better the second day. I made a huge pan of it, so we’ll probably be enjoying that for a couple days to come.

For desert I made Brownies…that didn’t turn out so hot. I’m struggling to find a Brownie recipe and the one that worked last time, just didn’t bake right this time. So if any of you have an excellent recipe I’d be glad to give it a try.

I also made Low-Fat Apple Muffins that are delicious, if I do say so myself. They have this incredible walnut and brown sugar crumble on top that makes you forget about the lack of butter and the whole-wheat pastry-four inside. They are very moist and have real apple in them. The apple chunks very nicely migrated to the center of the muffin so they’re like a sweet surprise in the middle. Next up, I’m going to try something similar with pumpkin. Being that it’s fall and we live in Michigan, Apples, Pumpkins, Gourds, Zucchini, and Sweet Potatoes are damn near falling out of the sky, well, they’re cheap and abundant at any rate.

I have to mention, it IS Domestic GOD, thank-you-very-much. I haven’t surrendered my penis to anyone. I am a man who likes sewing, crochet, cooking, cleaning, fabric, flowers, and interior design. I have the same (gorilla grunting) reaction to paint swatches that some men have for power tools, (though I like those too) and my admiration of fine linens, furniture, or a well made bed, matches that of some men’s lust for fast shiny cars. While I even joke at times that it’s not ‘traditionally male’ it doesn’t make me any less of a man, and I’m growing tired of the implication that it does.

Some like making pastry, some like making cement, they’re both men. The same way my sister would rather sling ceiling joists around, or build a house, than cook dinner, I’d rather build a soufflé, and sew a shirt. Remarkably; we’re both skilled in all of those things, I can sling joists around, and I can make a decent soufflé, I don’t know if that makes me less male, or just well rounded. I guess what bugs me most is when some folks act as though because of the activities I do, I’m not masculine, when I know (from experience) that I can do all those typically male things – with the exclusion of working on cars – skillfully, and I even like doing them, BUT I’d rather be inside baking than laying cement any day.