There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will. ~Robert Frost

i bought a new book this weekend.  i found it as dustin and i were running errands around the city. 

d was kind enough to drive as i focused all my attention on this new lovely hardback. i had at least half of it read before we made our way home. 

anyone who has known me for several years understands how remarkably strange this excitement is. when i graduated from college, i knew how to make 2 things- ramen noodles and baked potatoes. that's it. about three years ago, the universe shifted, the planets realigned....and i decided to teach myself how to cook. i had just moved to sayre to start my first year practicing as a PA. i suddenly had 

every. single. night. with. nothing. to. do. 

i had spent the previous 4 years devoting my free time wholly to studying. i had absolutely no interest in cooking. quite frankly, i couldn't understand why people would want to spend so much time on creating something that would (hopefully) quickly disappear. 

then in my first spring back in Western Oklahoma, my book club chose Animal, Vegetable, Miracle  for our selection. not to sound trite, but it changed my perception about food & cooking. i slowly started to experiment with recipes. i started making meals FROM SCRATCH. what a foreign concept! i laugh now at how little i knew about cooking in those first few months. with my parents only 2 blocks up the street, bless their hearts, i shared my bounty....good and bad. (boy, were there some atrocious ones!)

now i'm far from a chef, but i feel much more comfortable in the kitchen. to my own shock, i actually find pleasure in creating a meal from a long list of ingredients. i have a food processor now. and a very sharp knife. i rarely used pre-packaged foods these days. although, i still crave ramen noodles from time to time. i can easily spend hours hovering over cookbooks & sorting through recipes. now i know the difference between sage & tarragon. i grow my own basil. 

and i learned the hard way that soup should always be cooled before you put in in the blender....unless you'd like to paint your entire kitchen with butternut squash. 

now that i live in chicago, life is infinitely more hectic. evening routines are stuffed with exercise, commutes, dog-walks & social schedules. however, we try our best to be thrifty & eat at home most nights despite the crazy schedules.  mr. rocke is a trooper & he will spend as much time in the kitchen as it takes to finish cooking....but it is admittedly not his favorite hobby. so one of our most cherished meals is a very simple one....

it's a smorgasbord of flavors, a cornucopia of deliciousness, a hodge podge of morsels. 

the line-up changes frequently, but idea is the same...eat whatever you like. 

cleaning your plate is never required to leave the table.

the tradition started a couple of years ago when we were dating long distance. dustin and i would stop by the market for cheese & wine & fruit & crackers and call it 'staying in.' we'd be more than satisfied with this picnic menu. this custom has continued through our first year of cohabitation.  for d's birthday, we threw in some banana bread, granola bites & chocolate covered cherries. last weekend, we nixed the wine for a beer. just this week, it was cheese & kale chips & deviled eggs & hummus with pita with a big glass of milk. it's always interesting to see what kind of concoctions we come up with. it's nice to nibble & chat & share a bottle of wine unhurriedly. plus, the clean-up is always minimal. bonus.