Week 52: We Did It! A Full Year!
We celebrated by cooking one of our favorites…
Each Sunday, my wife and I prepare, cook and eat a meal together — intentionally. Every Friday, I’ll be sharing our experience here in this space. I want to see the growth that will come in our marriage because of this. I hope you enjoy our story. You can find last week’s post here.
But if I’ve learned anything over the last 52 weeks, it’s that authenticity counts. People are drawn to authentic stories. Not the facades we all try to put out there. The real stuff.
So be you. Be authentic. You — exactly as you are today, right now — are a beautiful person.
We all have roundabout ways of realizing our identity. Our true selves. It’s an uneven path. But let me encourage you — you’re on the right track.
And let me thank you for being a part of this journey in our lives. Anyone who has ever read a single word in one of our posts or recipes means so much to us. We value and appreciate you. Thanks for walking alongside us. Now let me invite you to take another stroll with us to close out one full year of Cooking With Sarah.
Routinely, Sarah and I find ourselves looking at each other after one of our cooking adventures and lauding it as our best yet. We said it when we cooked steak on a cast-iron skillet, then again when we made shrimp scampi (though that might have had something to do with the Cubs winning the World Series) and, most recently, we said it after our special PB&J burgers. But the one that really stuck out for me has always been Chicken Carbonara.
I’ll never forget when we made that the first time. Pouring the cream. The spinach shrinking to perfection. And that first creamy, bacon-y bite. Mmmmmm…
So, to celebrate a full year of cooking together, we decided to do something we had not done before — repeat a recipe. In fact, we repeated two. Chicken Carbonara was the main dish, then we took a side dish from another one of our favorite recipes.
As we began cooking together, I started on the yucca while Sarah prepared the pasta. There was a flurry of activity in our kitchen as we both went about our tasks. But we weren’t isolated from one another. We were talking and sharing the experience. All the moving parts would come together to make a very tasty whole. It’s one of the aspects of our cooking adventures I love the most — how we work together to complete the meal.
From there, I started chopping the tomatoes, which has quickly become one of my favorite jobs. I may or may not have snuck a few tomatoes while I was chopping. What’s interesting is that I never liked tomatoes growing up. But now, I love eating the little grape tomoatoes we buy from the store. Just another byproduct of being willing to try things. You might realize that your tastes have changed. I’m glad my wife encourages me to try things.
By now, Sarah had the bacon cooking in the oven. There’s just something about the smell of bacon. It’s intoxicating. I had to stop cutting up tomatoes to take it in.
After a while, we got to one of my favorite parts — pouring in the heavy whipping cream. It gives everything this wonderful color and it makes the red of the tomatoes and the green of the spinach pop even more.
Finally, we added the cooked pasta, let it all simmer together and then we were ready to eat.
As I took that first bite, I thought back to the last time we ate this meal together. Then I thought back to the first meal we cooked together.
It sure has been an awesome journey! Sometimes I start to think about the future and what I’ll be reflecting on this time next year. I have no idea what the future holds. If the past is any indication, it will be a great ride.
But another thing I’ve learned over the last 52 weeks is this — don’t let the past or the future take you away from the present. Enjoy the special moments to the fullest. Invest in those you love. Pour into them like cream over bacon and spinach. Take time to notice the small things. Enjoy life.
Thank you, once again, for being a part of this journey. As always, we wish you the best as you enjoy simple moments with those you love.
