I have always considered myself a fair cook.
I am no chef, but I’ve always been pretty proud of my home cooking. In my near ten years of cooking home style dishes, I have never once had any complaints that it wasn’t good enough, and usually, my guests gobble everything up.
At least, until now.
After living together with Mr. Worm (a die-hard carnivore) for about three months, I’ve noticed (amongst many other things) that not only is our living style and habits completely different, our tastebuds seemingly operating on polar ends, our cooking methods are also completely different. I am pretty sure that he’s not too fond of my cooking, and often times when I’m preparing something, he will stand nearby and give little remarks like, “that’s not how it’s done” or “you have to do this first” or “otherwise it will turn out bland”.
WTF!!
And the worse of the worse: “I hate vegetarians. I used to promise myself I would never date one.”
Well, as they say, never say never.
So anyway, as I was saying. I have never (damn! I said that word again!!) had anyone said to me my cooking was not good. Well, Mr. Worm didn’t exactly say it, but I can sense that he’s not dying for the dinners I prepare. I’m not quite sure what the precise reason is, but I guess it might have to do with the central fact that he likes meat, and I’m a good vegetarian cook. But many of my meat-eating friends have no problem with my vegetarian cooking. Or maybe it’s because I don’t do a whole lot of vegetarian cooking at home because I’m trying to use meat ingredients for him? I must admit, my meat dishes really aren’t that good — and how can I be blamed? I haven’t cooked a meat dish in such a long time! Now that I think about it, it hasn’t been too long. Last time I made something with meat was when I was still with my ex, which was roughly 6-7 years ago.
Okay, fine. So maybe that was a real long time ago.
Mr. Worm cooks (a lot of meat) quite well, but I must say his vegetables not very creative. And I’ve noticed that he doesn’t eat a variety of greens, in fact, I can count them all using my fingers. You can imagine what kind of pressure I’m under when we go grocery shopping. I don’t get to buy a lot of veggies that I can cook with. For example, today when we went to the Japanese grocery store, we purchased *five* different kinds of meat, no greens, and one package of natto (Japanese fermented beans).
He also uses a different brand of soy sauce – which, as you Asian cookers should know, makes the greatest amount of difference in the final product.
I’ve also sensed a bit of frustration on his part with my limited eating choices. Well, he eats so many things I don’t eat and I don’t (not really) have a problem with him.
I don’t know what to do with myself. Maybe I should just stop trying to be the cook he wants me to be, and just be the vegetarian cook that I am.
Lately, I’ve had this curiously empty and unsatisfying sensation in my stomach. Mr. Worm won’t let me buy and eat many things I would have bought and eaten otherwise. He says that I already have a lot of finger/junk food at home, and that I should finish it all before I buy more. He said this when I told him I wanted to go buy some Camembert to go with the Sauvignon Blanc.
Disappointment!
And today when we went to Uwajimaya, I saw so many yummy things I wanted to buy, but because he was standing there, I was almost scared to pick those things off the shelf! Imagine that! I would have never imagined that I, J.L., would one day be afraid to buy food!!
Sad.
