It's still amazing to me how even seemingly simple things can take far longer than anticipated, and cooking is proving to be one of those things. Last night was couscous with chicken, garlic, spinach, sundried tomatoes, and gorgonzola which turned out rather well. Between prep and cleanup, however, it was about an hour.

Today I figured that since I've been determined to learn to cook vegetables (since all I usually eat is pasta or other carb heavy foods), I decided that leeks, as a greatly underused vegetable, were the way to go. Garlic, onion, shallot, and leeks were cleaned and chopped, plus I made a vinaigrette of oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. After switching from sauteeing to braising, everything also took a little over an hour.

Judging by these experiences, I still wonder why people choose Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, or any of the other so-called ready made meals. Chopping and finding bowls to hold my mise-en-place took up the majority of my time; the actual shopping was a breeze in comparison, even counting the lines at Fairway. Paying someone else to do just shopping but still having to prep and assemble everything just seems useless to me. For lazy days, delivery is the way to go. If I want a whole meal fully prepared hot and ready, or even heat and eat, I will pay the premium!

I'm also developing a soft spot in my heart for working mothers, who prepare a main dish and usually two sides in one hour, let alone restaurant staff who serve an entire restaurant dinner with a 20 minute turnaround! Cooking for one sucks, but I think for now that's something to work on without aspirations for a greater career in the field. Next up maybe broccoli or cauliflower? Time to dig up basic recipes (couscous came from the back of the box, and the leeks from two cookbooks) and tweak to my particular tastes. There will be missteps, the largest so far was curiosity about how cinnamon would work with egg salad (never again!), but it's a learning curve. I just hope it's an exponential one!