knitting a life

I am guessing that most of you who read this blog might have gotten the impression that I do most of the cooking at our house.  If that’s the case, you’d be wrong.  S does at least as much cooking as I do.  He is the undisputed king of breakfast; famous for his waffles, pancakes and most delicious egg concoctions.  He also takes the lead on dinner quite often.

We do approach cooking differently.  I am an improviser.  I come home, look at what’s in the fridge, and throw something together.  Usually it is edible, and often it is quite good.

S, on the other hand, is a planner.  He likes to go to the grocery store with a cookbook (or review recipes before we head out and make a detailed list) and buy food for specific dishes.  As a result the food he cooks is a work of art.

He also likes to prep all of his ingredients in advance, setting up his mise en place carefully before beginning to cook anything.  I usually chop and saute and fumble in the refrigerator for the next ingredient as I cook.

Last weekend, S decided to make a seafood stew.  Oddly, he had not decided this before we went to the grocery store, but fortunately we had the ingredients he needed: Manila clams,

Alaskan spot prawns, red and white onions, lots of garlic, hot pepper, fish stock, and canned tomatoes.

After a few hours in the kitchen, the smells were mouthwatering.  And as usual, the finished dish was both spectacular to look at and incredibly delicious.

Along with the stew we had some of the last artichokes of the fall

which we served with a balsamic vinaigrette.

A perfect fall meal.  We ate it all

and washed it down with a little local pinot noir.