Week 53: Making Good Choices
We began year two of Cooking With Sarah with a twist on grilled cheese…
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.
So, a few weeks back, I felt a little sheepish for not being willing to try jalapenos. I’ve never liked them. I’m not a spicy food person. But my taste for tomatoes has changed, so I felt bad for not even giving the little peppers a chance.
Well, whatta ya know? This week, I got another chance.
It just so happens that jalapenos were once again on the menu. This time I didn’t run and hide from them. I actually tried them. And guess what? It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was quite tasty. The meal? Grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon, jalapenos and blackberry jam.
Now, full disclosure, we did cut the seeds out of the jalapenos. So they didn’t have quite their usual kick. But hey, baby steps, right?
I was so excited when I heard that there was blackberry jam in the recipe. I love jams. There one of those foods that you don’t get all the time, but those few times you do, they steal the show.
Sarah started by baking the leftover bacon that we hadn’t used from the week before. Bacon has to be one of the best foods there is. The smell is impossible to ignore. You’re just drawn in. Actually, that makes cooking in a small kitchen rather difficult. All you’re thinking about is bacon!
But I pushed through and sliced up the jalapeno. Then Sarah came over and cut out the seeds. While she was doing that, I got out the swiss cheese and began to butter the bread. When I make grilled cheese, I don’t hold back on the butter. There’s nothing like that golden brown toasting effect that butter has on a grilled cheese. It’s like your instantly a kid again. Every time I bite into a grilled cheese, it’s like I’m playing basketball outside with my brother again or making another futile attempt at beating him at Mario Kart.
It was all coming together. The bacon was ready. The bread was buttered. The cheese slices were patiently waiting along with the jalapenos. The last ingredient was the blackberry jam. We put some on one slice of bread and then we made the sandwiches. When they were all assembled, it was onto the frying pan.
My mouth watered as the cheese melted onto the crispy slices of bacon. I could not wait. Seconds seemed like years. I looked up at my wife. She smiled at me. I could tell she was feeling the same way.
Habits are funny things. Often they form without us even knowing it. Those tend to be the annoying habits. But the ones that really mean something — that reside in the inner depths of our soul — those are the ones we choose. Choosing isn’t easy. It never is. We always want to belive it’s the choice that counts. But the choice isn’t where choosing ends. Inherently, choosing is ongoing. It’s happening right now. Choosing is continual. And it requires a little buy-in on our part.
Sarah and I chose to make a point of spending quality time together. We chose to do it through cooking. We chose to do it on Sunday. We chose to do it every week. We chose to write about it. Then we chose to turn it into a publication.
Then we kept choosing to do all those things.
Last week, we found ourselves at the one year point. Is it more significant than any of the other weeks? No, not really. And that’s what’s so powerful about our choosing. Now we have a rhythm in our lives. It’s a habit.
It started with a choice. But it didn’t end there. It continued through the choosing.
I can’t accurately describe for you what that first bite was like. The combination of flavors in this meal was spectacular. So amazing! And yes, a bit part of that was the presence of the jalapenos. More than that, a big part was that we chose to include the jalapanos. I chose to listen to my wife (always a good thing) and just try them out. She chose to give me a break and cut the seeds out.
Maybe next time I’ll just have to choose to leave the seeds in…
