Eating Take Out All the Time...

It's just not as much fun as you'd think. I have friends, primarily those who live in Manhattan, who never ever cook. Having experienced just having mostly takeout dinners for over a month, I have to say I could NEVER do this permanently. It is driving us nuts.

I'm not a very fancy cook for the most part, though I can enjoy making a tricky recipe for a special occasion. Mostly we have simple homemade meals and rarely eat out. But with the difficult "morning" sickness I've been having - all day long - it just hasn't been possible for me to cook as I usually do. So we've had to come up with other plans.

I've tried to avoid ordering out. One technique I've used is to boil water, turn on the exhaust fan, throw whatever you're cooking in the pot (instant soup for instance) and run away. I then come back when it's done and try not to throw up before eating it. (Often things settle down once I start eating.)

The last few weeks we've done the husband-cooks-everything method. That is great, but he felt frustrated that there was so little he could cook. Even with the exhaust fan, it still had to cook quickly and not be smelly. I think he won't say it, but he's probably a little happy to be back to his catered lunches at work this week.

Sadly, many of my favorite cold foods aren't working either. The biggest problem is cheese. For some reason, most cheese (well, most of everything) just smells too strongly and I can't deal with it. So our standard hiking fare of bread and cheese is out. Also, whole grain breads have more smell than the white junk, and have been challenging.

I want to provide good nutrition for the baby, as much as possible, but it's hard. So supplementing what I can stand to make here with takeout has worked reasonably well. But nearly anywhere we order from the food is heavier than what we would have at home. Plus, it's easy to get sick of the same few places, but very little is appealing.

On the other hand, I truly do appreciate that the morning sickness has offered continuing reassurance that things are going along as they should be. It's a small price to pay for a healthy child. Still, I'm hoping that by next month I'll be back to cooking healthy and tasty food for us here at home. It will be better for my budget too.