Last night after our dinner date at P.F. Changs, my husband and I grabbed some warm coffee at Corner Bakery Cafe and decided to stroll the outside shopping mall. As we walked toward Willams-Sonoma, I had an idea to look at cookbooks (this is the only thing that inspires me to cook-if they have pretty pictures). I then realized that Brandin has never been in this store and was surprised that a knife set could cost $1,500+ & $45 stirring spoons do exist...can you tell I buy our cookware at Target? lol I am IN LOVE with this store though! It makes we want to throw a dinner party every time I walk through those doors.
We headed over to the shelves where all of the desired cookbooks were on display. As we glanced through a few, I stumbled upon Two in the Kitchen-a cookbook for newlyweds. Although we aren't necessarily newlyweds anymore, it looked appealing. Brandin must have thought so too since he stood there reading (what seemed like every page) as I marveled within other book covers.
As I migrated to the cherry tomatoes, I noticed my husband walk to the counter with the book in hand. A huge smile danced on my lips. "So, we are going to cook together?" I asked. "Yes." He said. "Promise?" "Promise." And we walked out.
On our way home, he had me pick out a breakfast recipe as our first from the book. We both decided on Eggs Benedict and stopped by the store to pick up the ingredients for the next morning.
It was 6am when Brandin got up and 6:30 when I finally put my feet on the floor. We were both awake before our little one and that was the plan.
We started with playing some Ray LaMontagne ('Let it be Me' was first to come out of the speakers) and lit a yummy smelling candle. Brandin wiped down the counter tops as I flipped the book open to Eggs Benedict and got the utensils ready. Ingredients were then put together in measuring cups and the team work began.
I started on the hollandaise sauce with cracking eggs and melting butter. Brandin started with cooking the fresh baby spinach, boiling water for the poached eggs and reading through the directions.
Brandin: "How do you spell ramekin?" (As he starts googling this item to find out what it is)
Me: (communicated the spelling) "Is that like a knife or something?"
Brandin: "I don't know but it looks like they're sold at Walmart....Oh wait, it looks like it's that small bowl our whisk is sitting on."
Me: "I think we should take some cooking classes..."
We had some good laughs.
As everything was just about done and Brandin poached his first eggs-ever, our little one awoke to a yummy smelling kitchen-bed head and all.
We set the table, prayed together and admired our work before delving in. "Mmmmmm" was all I could manage to say. Not only was this my first taste of an Eggs Benedict but it tasted SO DELICIOUS-a nice surprise to what I was anxious about.
We decided to make this a daily tradition. One meal a day-together.
The time that we were able to spend together (which doesn't come very often) was priceless. When you're married for a little while (3 1/2 years for us) there may be moments were you find yourselves wondering "what can we do together that we both will enjoy?" Finding time together that was meaningful didn't come as easily as it once seemed it was so we found ourselves asking that very question.
Although Brandin loves to cook a lot more than I do, it can seem like a chore to anyone at times and so uninviting. Doing this together though, makes it a lot more fun and even with a toddler in the kitchen, we can teach him what different utensils are (we may have to google some-ha!), the types of ingredients and tastes that trigger certain palettes.
His favorite part, eating the yummy goodness!
I will hold onto this beautiful morning and I look forward to many more of these sweet moments...
What do you and your husband/significant other do for fun to spend meaningful time together?
