Today I'd like to wish you a happy National Cooking Day!
As if there's any such thing.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I love cooking.
It's just the deciding what to make, and the list-making, and the grocery shopping, and the spending too much money, and the additional grocery shopping and spending even more money when the first store doesn't have everything, and the unpacking the car, and the putting stuff away, and the taking stuff out again, and the organizing, and the measuring, and the chopping, and the slicing, and mess-making and the cleaning up that I loathe.
Doesn't it steam you that there even is a National Cooking Day (which, quite conveniently also falls on Psychotherapy Day). After all, isn't that pretty much every day for most women? After stewing on it, we're sure National Cooking Day must have been started by a man.
Actually, it was started by a kitchenware outlet. That was our next guess.
Here's the stirring history of National Cooking Day from daysoftheyear.com: "Potsandpans.com decided it was time that there was a proper celebration and recognition of home cooking, and the flavors and smells of tradition that come with it."
In other words, Potsandpans.com just wanted to sell some pots and pans. Ooh, like that Ayesha Curry Home Collection 5.5-Quart Porcelain Enamel Nonstick Covered Straining Casserole with a glass lid featuring a built-in strainer they're selling! And like that SilverStone 3.4 Quart BPA-Free Microwave Pressure Cooker ... even though I have a perfectly fine plug-in Instant Pot. Already I'm drooling on National Cooking Day, and I haven't prepared a thing. I might not always love kitchen time, but I always love kitchen stuff.
Continuing on with the day's description: "It used to be that the home-cooked meal was the only meal that was eaten on a regular basis, with takeout and fast food being a rare treat rather than a staple of family life. Boxed meals and TV dinners were equally unheard of, they were the province of the single male or the housewife who just never quite learned how to prepare a proper meal for her family. These days such gender stereotypes may be on their way out, but boxed foods and instant meals are very much more in. ... Cooking Day seeks to change all that, by reintroducing the concept of the home-cooked meal to the family, or just to the lives of the bachelor(ette)."
Speaking of The Bachelor, at least that's not on tonight for Cooking Day to interrupt. But it's also "Binge Day," according to daysoftheyear.com, as in TV, not food: "Thankfully celebrating Binge Day is a bit of a no-brainer, you just have to pick your favorite show or shows and take a day devouring them all in a grand feast of fandom."
But how are we going to do that and cook? I know! Binge-watch a series that involves other people cooking! Shows like Netflix's The Great British Baking Show, Sugar Rush, Nailed It and Cooking on High (although that last one, a cannabis cooking competition, would appear to be about another sort of "baked").
Of course, that isn't the point of Cooking Day. Which at least could have the decency to happen on, say, a Sunday when we have a little more downtime. Or in, say, November when it might be cool enough to turn on the oven. For now, it's still too warm to enjoy anything except a Popsicle (hey, there are still a few September days left to enjoy "National Blueberry Popsicle Month").
Need some ideas for what to cook? Today is also German Butterbrot Day. Butterbrot? Whatterbrot is that?
"If you're a fan of buttered bread, this holiday is for you, and it takes that simple morning treat and turns it into a tradition worthy of being followed," says daysoftheyear.com. "So get your favorite bread out and butter it up for German Butterbrot."
So butterbrot is just bread?
"Butterbrot isn't just buttered bread but specifically refers to buttered bread bearing a single additional topping to bring it together," the site says, like "marmalade, hazelnut spread, peanut butter, jam, or honey. Cream cheese is another favorite of butterbrot fans."
So it's bread ... with Nutella? On National Cooking Day, I'll toast to that.
You butter email:
jchristman@arkansasonline.com
What's in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman 'hood.
Style on 09/25/2018