And I am back...

Over the past month and a half, very little cooking occurred in our household. We were happily distracted by the new addition in our family, who I shall call little Serafina on the blog. I am not totally comfortable with sharing her picture or personal information (for example, I am keeping her first name private, Serafina is her middle name) on this public forum, but I will say that little Serafina is healthy and happy. We couldn't be happier.

With our new addition, we enjoyed the generosity of family and friends through sampling their own cuisines. My sister made her chicken parmasean, which was DELICIOUS. Seriously, she says that she only bakes, but she makes a mean chicken parm. My brother came over with a beet salad, fresh pesto pasta, and sizzled up some chicken sausage. His wife and my friend made us granola bars, and you know how I feel about those! That same friend keeps dropping off treats at random, it is like we have our own baked goods CSA! My longtime best-friend filled our freezer with chicken curry, pasta bean soup, and a superb macaroni and cheese. My In-laws made the most perfect carrot and ginger soup, fresh bread, more mac and cheese, and more fresh bread. My mom made on-demand Italian food, and my dad proudly filled our fridge with groceries for when we came home from the hospital. I am pretty sure my father thinks I subsist on cheese, broccoli and bread, and actually, come to think of it, he is probably right. I can't explain their endless generosity and how thankful we are for their treats; we probably would have starved the past six weeks.

However, my cooking suffered. Maternity leave does not work for cooking. For example, last week, in attempt to start cooking again and re-live the St. Patrick's day that I never enjoyed, I tried to make fish and chips with mushy peas. We bought some Harp, put on the Dubliners and fried up some cod. Exhausted from new parent sleeplessness, I was so proud of my ambition; I even took pictures.

However, sadly, I won't post the recipe. They were the worst fish and chips and mushy peas. EVER. I am not exaggerating; I really mean it.

As always, A. ate the entire meal and promised it wasn't that bad. He is too kind. I didn't cook anything wonderful for the next week because the meal traumatized me. For the first time in my life, I have all the time in the world to cook, but too intimidated to do it. I blame little Serafina's unpredictable feeding schedule, but really it is the task not the conditions that prevents me from cooking. But as these days wane, I realize how busy I normally am, and how I still managed to cook good and new meals. So, with the four more months of maternity leave ahead of me, I vow to cook more and better. This blog will hold me accountable, right? I think I am going to try recipes from various books and magazines, and review them. Tell you if they work or don't work, or how I changed them. I doubt I will have the time or patience to make new ones, but I would like to figure out where the good Pescetarian recipes are hiding...