a big mac

the communion wafer of consumption. not really food but the promise of food. whatever it tastes like, whatever it is made of, once it touches lips a big mac is transubstantiated into the mythological hamburger

john ralston saul
the doubter's companion - a dictionary of aggressive common sense

I like to try and get Mondays off to a good start. I don't like getting all the way into work and finding I'd left my ID card at home, necessitating a trip back to get it. And all this after I'd been so good and climbed out of bed early, performed a nappy change, and should have been ready to start work by 7.30am.

I've got into the habit of driving our car into work. We've only owned a car for the last three months or so, so it's a novelty, but I do feel guilty that I'm not using public transport more assiduously. And it's not like the buses don't go right past our door.

I have this absolutely cool bus driver on the 8.06am Number 27 bus. She's middle aged, wears deep red nail polish, and takes no shit from anyone. She guns the bus like it's a rally car, cutting corners, intimidating other road users, and generally finding the fastest way from A to B. She is the only bus driver I've been with who has overtaken another bus on the only straight stretch of road between our house and central Wellington. All the passengers on our bus just smiled and looked cool as we rocketed past, like, "yep, she's our driver!".

We got home delivered pizza for dinner tonight. It was an "i got home late - there's dishes piled in the sink - we have no food in the house - and the baby is still feeding" kind of dinner. But I never feel completely right after take away food. Partly it's that I know I'm being lazy not cooking, partly it's that it's expensive and partly it's just that it doesn't taste as wholesome as home cooked food.

I like cooking a lot, but I've gotten out of the habit of it. I read an article yesterday suggesting this was a cultural thing. That people were cooking less, that when they cooked they were spending less time doing so, and that what they considered cooking had changed. Now, starting from basics was likely to involve opening a jar of spaghetti sauce, boiling it with some meat and serving over spaghetti. The art of chopping onions and garlic, frying gently in olive oil, adding fresh thyme, oregano and basil, and simmering slowly was being lost.

Mental note to myself:

spend more time cooking, savour the smells and sensations, discover and rediscover food