How I Started Cooking for One
Restaurants kept me alive. As a single, pre-pandemic, I loved food but hardly bought groceries and disliked cooking for one. When I ate at home, it would take me an hour or longer to get ready, ten minutes to eat, and another thirty minutes or so to clean up. Because it took up so much time and felt labor intensive, I wouldn’t do it for a while. Whatever food I had in the fridge would go bad, making me feel even worse. The whole experience was unpleasant and wasteful.
When Boston went into lockdown, I could no longer eat out. Going to grocery stores was the only good reason to get out of the house. Cooking became one of the few things I could do at home during this surreal period. I enjoyed picking up milk, meat, vegetables, and fruits. I developed a system in the kitchen and collected simple recipes. Mostly, I got good at using the wok. The smell of fresh bread or soy chicken or garlic broccoli was mesmerizing. I took my time to eat and didn’t mind leftovers anymore. Washing dishes became therapeutic. I also made a fresh latte a few times every day and no longer gave any money to Starbucks.
Starting this new habit on my own was not easy. It had to take a pandemic to clear most of my activities, change my behavior, and make the time to cook authentic meals for one.
Last week, I went on a friendcation out of town. “I’m trying to eat healthier. Low carb and sugar.” It turned out that my girlfriend was too. I mentioned to her that I only knew easy dishes and sauteed all my greens with garlic while she and her husband whipped up excellent dishes.
“I am the queen of vegetables,” she said. “You like Dal? Dal is easy.” her husband said. “Species is key.” My one week with her felt like an immersion in basic Indian cooking. She used spices of all different colors: cumin, coriander, red chili, bay leaves, and chaat masala. My taste buds were excited. Knowing they were my favorite Indian home-cooked dishes, she showed me how to make idli and dal. “I am showing you simple dishes so you can do them. Otherwise, it will be too overwhelming, and you won’t do it.” It was good to learn from an actual professor who knows how to teach. “Yes, when you say this is basic, I agree. I can do this,” I said. We laughed and chatted as my girlfriend showed me her cooking tricks in her beautiful kitchen that had everything. I ended up with eight simple and healthy recipes.
As soon as I got home, I went to the stores to buy these new ingredients. As I walked along the aisle of a crowded Indian store, I was surprised by how much more I knew. As I stood in front of a shelf of many different kinds of spices and dals, I felt so not alone. Spending a week with my girlfriend was soulful.
So there you have it. As a single, sometimes I need a helping hand like everyone else to make changes and improvements in my life. Whether it was from the pandemic or my girlfriend, I got the push I needed with single cooking.
Now, let’s taste that new chia seed breakfast bowl I made.