Culinary Trials

I am trying to regain some of what I always enjoyed doing: cooking in my kitchen. My partner saw some cooking show on TV, and against my better judgment, I offered to make him the dish. It was a fairly easy recipe to make a pasta sauce consisting of cooked onion, garlic, tomatoes, and sausage.

I spent an hour making this dish. I spent a good deal of the time sitting on our kitchen island, which has sorta become my new "home." But I also had to stand like a flamingo with my broken leg bent at the knee and raised in the air while at the stove stirring the meal. By the time the food was ready, I was very tired and sore.

My partner got our drinks ready, and poured milk for me. What I can never understand is that he only fills my glass half-way. It is not like I can get up and refill it. Oh well, I accept what I am offered.

Unfortunately, I could barely eat any of what I had prepared. I cannot eat tomatoes, onion, or garlic. I like onion and garlic as flavors, but I cannot eat these vegetables, even after they were slowly simmered. They make me very sick to my stomach and then give me the trots the next day.

However, my partner was enjoying what I prepared so much that I smiled and picked out the sausage and rigatoni that was on my plate and ate that. What was important to me is that he was happy, as he has been working so hard to care for me since I broke my leg.

I looked out the window and saw deer at the bird feeder, so I told my partner about our unwanted visitors. He went outside to chase them away, and while he was gone, I emptied the tomatoes and onions from my plate onto his. I also had time to hobble sideways to the refrigerator and get myself some more milk. When he returned after chasing the deer and resumed his seat at the table, he kept shoveling it down, and did not notice what I had done.

Soon thereafter, my stomach began to turn. I hobbled to the drawer where we keep OTC remedies, and took an antacid. My partner then handed me his plate and asked for another helping. I gladly served him.

He said, "don't you want any more?" I said, "no, I have had enough." I sat with him and finished my milk. I starved the rest of the night, but seeing the smile on his face was worth it.

Have you ever prepared a meal for someone else and they loved it but you did not?

Life is short: show those you love that you love them.