[Domestic revolution.]

So I don't cook. It's not that I can't cook, but that I won't. Why cook, when restaurants do it for you, and little men on bikes bring it to you? Most learn to cook in college out of necessity, but I learned to survive on takeout. (...also out of necessity. Have you SEEN Columbia dorm kitchens? I obviously haven't, but I hear they're gross.) My diet at school largely consisted of Indian, Sushi, Chinese, Mexican, and Korean, with some white people food thrown in every now and then for diversity. My meals in DC have been somewhat less varied (mostly because I live in awful suburbia, not actual DC), but just as outsourced.

For a variety of reasons, I've recently resolved to start cooking more. Partially because it seems like everyone I know here cooks a lot and cooks well, and I hate when people do things better than I do. Also, I need a hobby other than watching TV and kissing my boyfriend. Mostly, though, Chad and I are trying to be a little more grown up about our habits--we basically don't exist apart outside of work, which means that every meal is eaten and purchased together, and that can be a little excessive, even for us.

So last weekend my mom received the call from me that I can only assume she'd been waiting to get her whole life, the call in which I demanded she teach me how to make a roast immediately. Chad laughed at me as I slowly repeated her directions to myself while writing them: "pour...oil...in...pan." Can't afford to make any mistakes on that step, people. With the help of sous chef Chad (seriously the best sous chef ever--shucks corn and peels potatoes like a pro, plus he tells me I'm pretty all the time, so I like him extra), I made my first grown up meal ever, and it was LEGIT if I do say so myself. Pot roast, a vegetable salad with roasted corn and red bell peppers plus sauteed green and yellow squash, and mashed potatoes, Grandma Rodriguez style. Obviously, documented my triumph for posterity's sake (slash for Mom). If you know me...you know that this is kind of revolutionary for me.

P.S. At one point I had four pans on the stove and one in the oven, all on different timers. Felt like a really big deal. Also felt like an octopus.

P.P.S. If I continue this trend (highly unlikely, but let's be optimistic), prepare for more posts like this. Contain your excitement, please.