Simple

Sometimes I practice what I preach, and cook simply.

It’s been kind of a tiring month, and has involved a fair amount of cooking for large numbers of people, all here in honor of my father. Usually I love to cook for crowds – the more, the merrier. This month, it has felt kind of overwhelming. I’m not quite up to par I guess.

In addition, last weekend I, along with a friend, hosted an annual gathering of women to celebrate the Christmas holiday. These are generally the kinds of situations in which I thrive. I love to make simple and delicious soups and salads, and bake homemade goodies for friends and family.

However, sometimes cooking simply means making it easy on yourself.

For example, I have talked before about how I can make these wonderful chocolate cupcakes that I fill with delicious cream filling, reminiscent of Hostess cupcakes. I have successfully made these cupcakes a dozen times. This time, however, something went terribly wrong. I’m not entirely sure what. Perhaps I forgot the baking powder. Maybe I used too much (or too little) flour. Instead of light and delicious cupcakes, I had greasy chocolate doorstops.

I briefly (about a millisecond) considered a do-over. Then I came to my senses and went to my pantry and brought forth a store-bought chocolate cake mix and a can of store-bought chocolate frosting. In a mere 20 minutes or so, I had not-quite-as-good-as-homemade chocolate cupcakes, which I filled with the homemade cream filling I had already made for the original cupcakes.

And here’s the thing – nobody noticed. Everyone was caught up in joyful conversation and holiday gladness, and not one person took a bite of the cupcakes only to spit it out with disgust. While I knew they weren’t as good as homemade, no one else cared.

The moral of the story is that cooking and eating for and with friends should not exhaust you or bring you to tears. There’s nothing wrong with taking the easy way out when that seems to be the most sensible thing to do. Just think of yourself as Sandra Lee, the star of Semi-Homemade Cooking, instead of the Barefoot Contessa. After all, both women are probably equally loved – and equally rich!