I love restaurant food. I love my food to be covered in cheese and grease and contain magic-restaurant calories and be made by someone else and brought out to me. Increasingly, I’m less interested in the part where it’s made by someone else. I really enjoy being at home, and I really want to know what’s in my food (even if it’s cheese and grease). I want to save money by making things at home. All sorts of reasons. Sometimes this leads to frustration, though, as the stuff at home tends to be “healthier”, and doesn’t always satisfy me when I have a craving for junk food.

The other night, I was hungering for something restaurant-y, but I didn’t want to head out to an actual restaurant to get it. I opened up my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook determined to make myself something yummy. I don’t have very much experience cooking, but I was sure I could find something. The very first item in the very first section (appetizers) was pizza rolls. Ah ha! Cheese! Meat! Bread! Hard to go wrong.

Every time Joshua or I makes something homemade (usually Joshua) that I’ve only ever purchased from elsewhere, I am amazed. Every time we go shopping, I buy bagels. I really like having them for breakfast and sometimes as snacks. This time when I went to reach for them, Joshua stopped me and said this would be the week we made them at home.

I use washcloths exclusively in the kitchen. Joshua feels strongly about having paper towels on hand for a couple of specific tasks. I feel strongly about paper towels not being visible in my kitchen, so that they do not accidentally get over-used. The end result is that there is one lonely roll of paper towels hidden in a little-used cabinet, but I personally only ever use washcloths.

Originally, this choice related primarily to environmental concern. Paper towels are single-use items, which seems especially grievous for a small task like hand-drying. Over time, I have become less vocal about attributing certain choices to environmental reasons, though. The truth is that I don’t know for certain how this single choice stacks up environmentally. For example, am I wiping out all potential environmental benefits of reusing by washing them in hot water? I don’t know.

Here at The Wallow, a thing or two has been happening in the kitchen. I’ve been getting used to having an electric stove, but I also got a gas outdoor grill, so there’s also been some grilling out. I made amazingly yummy chicken drumsticks on my first attempt at grilling.

Joshua is the primary yummy-maker in our kitchen, though. We were both so excited when he made the first loaf of bread in the new house: