Sickness and Health...and Salad

First of all, I just want to make something clear: Tony is perfectly capable of cooking. He's even good at cooking. His spaghetti sauce is incredibly delicious. When I was pregnant, he actually did the majority of the cooking because I was practically always sleeping.

That said, I do the majority of the cooking now. The reason for that is because I enjoy cooking. I like losing the stress of my day in the mundanity of chopping and sauteeing and the focus that comes with meal preparation. So, when I'm down for the count, the cooking either stops or shifts to convenience cooking. This is, once again, not because Tony is not capable. It's because when one of us is sick, the other takes over for childcare and meal prep, and since keeping the kid alive is the priority over meal prep, the kid wins.

For the last week or so, I've had a weird stomach bug going on. I had a fever and chills, and I was really nauseated. I spent a lot of time in bed, drinking mint and ginger teas. So our meals have either been repeats of stuff I've talked about in the past (tacos, for example) or they've been desperation meals since I've been sick--like canned soup. Don't judge us.

Tacos repeated! Plus the guacamole I made for myself.

Last night was probably the first I've really cooked in a while, and it was nice to get back to it. I made a mushroom, lentil, lemon and arugula salad. I found a recipe for it Pinterest--I do that a lot--and it was pretty good. I say pretty good because it was alright, but I don't think it was great. The recipe as it was written just wasn't there for me. I'm not going to link to the recipe because I think I want to try to change this one up myself and then post my recipe for it when I really feel like I have it where I want it.

Here's what I'll say in favor of this dish: mushrooms are probably my favorite thing on planet Earth, and the combination of mushrooms and garlic will always be a win for me. The arugula also pairs incredibly well with mushrooms and lentils. Tony doesn't feel particularly fond of arugula, but he commented last night that he liked it with this dish.

I just feel like the whole time I was eating this I was thinking about what I could have done differently and trying to figure out what was missing from the flavor. There are also things that I would omit next time, like the chili flakes the recipe called for. I will say, though, that this mixture was really good when I spooned it on top of the naan we had with dinner. In the future, no matter what else we decide on to change it, it will definitely be served with naan.

I feel like last night's dinner was disappointing to me. It was decent enough in flavor to eat, but it was just not that satisfying. The best meals are the ones that are satisfying in flavor and in effort. I feel like last night was neither. I put in a fair amount of effort for very little return in flavor, which makes me feel like the effort was somewhat wasted. This does not please me at all.

The good news is that today is a new day, and I can try again. We were between a few options tonight for dinner, so I'm not exactly sure what I'll be making for later. At any rate, I know it will be better than yesterday. It has to be. Otherwise I'll just have to quit cooking and become one of those people that subsists only on coffee and my disdain for others.