Week 6 and a lifechanger for me...

Belated Birthday greetings to all concerned and for those who are due their Birthdays.
Can I bring along a nice Rioja and a tangy lemon drizzle cake made this morning. A good time will be had by all I'm sure.
Such a lovely thread x

I'll be there...my birthday on Wednesday....I could bring some vino...

NanKate Same here, if I'm home alone I have a 10-minute max for preparing evening meal, giving me as much time as possible to do something I enjoy. Even 3 Weetabixes would be preferable to slaving over hot hob/oven/etc!

MayBee I saw that programme listed and thought I'd like to watch it, but then I looked at some of his paintings and changed my mind! But now you've made me curious, I shall give it a try, if only for the dulcet tones!

I, too have started to enjoy cooking; but thought I was the only person cooking banana bread. How wrong I was! Not only that but lockdown has been responsible for my discovery of Bob Ross's 'Joy of Painting' on BBC4. If you, as an artist, haven't succumbed to the delights of Bobs dulcet tones let it be my belated birthday present to you. Enjoy....[his paintings are awful by the way...]

Saggi I could have written your post. On the rare occasions my DH goes away I never cook a thing. I enjoy not having the nagging thought ‘well I better go and get on with the supper’.

I get out the toaster, use the microwave and no supper takes more than 10 minutes to prepare and cook.

This Lockdown is not even giving us an opportunity to go out for a meal. It’s relentless ?

Esmerelda.
May I come to your house and sample your
bread pudding? My favouite. When I was a little girl the local bakers shop gave everý child a slice of bread pudding if Mum bought a loaf of bread. L've loved it ever since.

Hope you have had a lovely birthday. ???

Wow, that’s so inspiring, Arty Sue! I’m not much of a cook, either, so I understand what a big step this is!

So many messages I don't know where to start to respond. Apologies if I seem to ignore some. I thought I'd be lucky if I got one reply! What a lovely birthday present to meet with you all. Thank you. I thought I was alone in hating cooking (ex-hating it now, of course ha ha). I live in Cornwall and my daughter and I had pasties for lunch, then distant-viewed my sons and their children. One of my best friends sent me a recording of her husband playing me happy birthday on his clarinet! I thought today would be a bit sad really, with lockdown, but it's been one of the best, partly due to all of you. XX (PS plenty of flour here, but in the corner shops and small bakeries. None in the supermarkets.)

I love baking but have had to stop because I can't get flour! I don't much enjoy cooking meals, it's a bit of a chore, but I'm now having to buy pastry and baked goods because I can't make my own.

I've started putting a few plants in after my late MIL turned me totally against gardening. While I was at work (sleeping in for 24 hours on a shift) she would visit with OH and dig up whatever I planted and move it to suit herself in our garden. Also took over me planting my hanging baskets and did them all her way. In hindsight OH or myself should have challenged her but we didn't want a row. She also told OH that I had no interest in the garden. So now she's been dead for 3 yrs I've started to plant some plug plants at our new home where she's never been.

I hate cooking its a chore..but I love good food and cook a lot when I have to as have husband / now grown up children and grandkids and love a get together all in garden for a summer lunch etc (obvs not in this lockdown) as if I dont cook it doesnt happen..if left on my own I would happily never do anything more exciting than a boiled egg or cheese on toast..

As I have got older, I absolutely hate cooking, don't mind doing the washing up, in fact I find it very theraputic, but cooking NO. I had ideas when I retired 10 years ago that I would try my hand at baking and make delicious cakes and bread etc......needless to say I never even tried and have no intention of trying now!!
Some people are born cooks and bakers, alas I don't fall into either catagory. No Great British Bake Off entry from me then....

I hate cooking and have had too cook every meal prepared in my home for 47 years..... I still hate it! Here’s the rub.... I’m good at it. All say so. If and when I’m left one my own.... I do not think i’ll cook a single meal, food is nothing to me ...it’s only fuel for the body!

Happy Birthday, ArtySue! My mum's birthday today too, lovely lady, she would have been 98.

I've always regarded cooking as a real chore and sadly no change for me in lockdown. I love all things arty/crafty... preparing meals always seems like a very irritating interruption to whatever I'm doing or making!

Now there's just the two of us at home I'm fortunate that DH has become chief chef most of the time and I'm more than happy to be the scullery maid. I once worked out that in the course of family life I'd probably produced at least 30,000 meals and packed lunches, so I've hung up my pots and pans without too many guilt feelings...

Happy Birthday Artysue! I hope you enjoyed lunch.

Your post really struck a cord with me, I could have written it myself!
As a child my Mum always shooed me out of our very tiny kitchen, I was just in her way and she didn't want the mess I might make. When I got to secondary school and cookery was on the curriculum everything I made and took home went straight in the bin. Mum didn't want food I had been 'playing with'. When I met my husband Mum told him I couldn't cook and he could do better than me! She didn't want me to get married. He bought me a cook book for an engagement present, I didn't really mind, I was probably going to need it.

Forty years later I have raised (and fed) three sons, they never went hungry, never had food poisoning and grew into strapping men. So I must have muddled through the daily meals somehow. But cooking and baking still has no interest for me. DH does the cooking every day (he's good at it) and I have often said if I was on my own I'd live on raw foods and sandwiches! I do quite envy people who make nice pastry, I gave up trying years ago.

Like you I am an 'arty' type. I paint, sew and do a whole host of crafty things, and as far as I'm concerned they definitely take precedence over cooking - or any other household tasks for that matter! And I make no apology for that.

I'm quite enjoying Lockdown because I can pursue my crafts as much as I want without the interruptions of children/grandchildren/friends/neighbours etc; I can ignore the dusty surfaces and dirty floors because no one except us will see them, and I don't have to do boring food shopping!

Well done Artysue for persevering with your cooking and baking I hope you continue to enjoy it.

How lovely for you! I haven't got into this baking revolution that everyone else is into. No need to follow the crowd. Do what makes you happy!

Count me in a bottle of Prosecco that hasn’t been drunk. Happy birthday arty sue! ???

Never too late especially if you bring baklava, Anrol
Happy birthday.

Happy birthday Artysue! It’s my birthday today too. Sorry I’m late for lunch......Can I bring the big tray of baklava someone very kindly left on my doorstep this morning?

Some people have taken up activities during this lockdown that we would not have contemplated before and found an unexpected tlent or pleasure. After this is all over will we go back to our usual selves or will lwe carry on with the new hobbies or activities that we have discovered? I do hope we will. Life seems to have expanded for a lot of us!

I feel the same about cooking, very basic cook here! My 2 sisters both love to cook all sorts of different things, I love going there when we can to try what they have made. Think I am more like my Mum, not sure who they take after, only wish I could cook better!

How wonderful. I am still waiting for the cooking bug to hit. I much prefer to sit and sew or craft. I have got frozen pastry (2 different types) in my cluck and collect order for next Saturday so watch this space...hahaha

Happy Birthday and congratulations on your new-found cookery skills!