I really don't want to cite the recent pandemic, but I must point out something that has occurred out of the time we have spent at home in my house. We learned about home cooking again.
Our household is often pretty mobile, from sports practices and games, rehearsals, shows, to weekend getaways. A lot of the time, we were pretty heavy on the slow cooker or the grocery store deli. Add in a pizza from the local pizzeria and that was the week. The measures that were put in place to keep us at home forced us to take a break from the hectic schedule, but also forced us to plan our meals a little bit more. We actually made grocery lists! We looked up recipes and purchased ingredients well in advance, and we started cooking again.
The end result was extraordinary food. We ended up discovering that eggs benedict made at home was exceptional; that homemade steak rub and a meat thermometer made a world of difference on the BBQ; and that a little patience and planning paid off. I definitely don't mean to tell people not to go out to their favourite restaurants, because they truly need your support; however, now there is a new standard that must be hit to turn over any kind of money for this. The old, "well I could make better than that at home" has been uttered a few times since discovering the magic of a cast iron pan.
There is a certain satisfaction to knowing that you can make a few dishes really well. Over the last couple of years for instance we haven't purchased a box of pancake mix. The pancakes are now from scratch, one of Kelly's specialties. The kids ask for them now by title. "Can we have Mom's pancakes?". There should be trophies for that.
Now I am certainly not claiming that our house is getting any sort of Michelin Star, or that Jamie Oliver is going to lose his job to a cooking show from our kitchen, but we definitely upped our game. Yes, the preparation sometimes takes a bit, but the satisfaction of what was created both from a food aspect and the environment that is created makes it well worth it. We also had our share of the recipes that went into the "Lets never make that again" category; plus the ones that took a second attempt to get right (Good thing Mary Janet from Tunes and Wooden Spoons recorded her lesson on butterscotch pie so I could try it again). My advice...If you could burn a boiled egg then you should start slowly, but definitely start.
I also must speak up for the musicians in the world. Next time you decide to have Italian, Mexican, Greek, etc..find a playlist on your favourite device and throw it on in the background on a blue tooth speaker as you cook and dine. It creates another element altogether, and the musician makes dozens of pennies when you stream it.
My recommendation is to try something from scratch today. Buy a better cut of meat from a local butcher than you usually would at the big grocery store. Buy the pure vanilla extract instead of the artificial. Put some time into getting fresh ingredients and preparing you and your household a great meal. You are putting that stuff into your body, so treat yourself well. Somewhere I read a long time ago that if you owned a Ferrari you wouldn't throw old gas into it...you would use premium. Start putting some premium fuel in your own tank and I promise you will notice the difference in not only the taste but your mood from a job well done.
Gotta run...I think I smell those pancakes cooking!