Friday, September 25, 2009

Food For Thought

“What are you doing?” WonderWife™ asked me.

I thought it was fairly obvious, considering that I was sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, with my eyes cast towards the TV that was powered on. Nonetheless, I offered her an answer:

“Watching Wrath of Kahn.”

“Why?” she asked rolling her eyes.

The fact that WonderWife™ needed to ask “why” illustrates the fundamental difference in our relationship. Yet for all of my geeky ways, she too has things that she is obsessive about. There are times when the roles are reversed and I’m the one telling her that I really don’t care how many different stitches her new serger makes or what kind of deal she got on fabric downtown. Knowing that she too, in her own way, is a geek enables me to absorb her constant taunts and questions about my hobbies. But it still remains that we don’t share the vast majority of our hobbies and interests.

All of this begs the question, what exactly are WonderWife™ and I doing together in the first place? How can two mismatched people forge a strong relationship? The answer lies in the one thing that we are both geeky about—food.

One day WonderWife™ and I were doing the family thing at a park across town as lunchtime was approaching. Since I was hungry, I knew the kids and WW™ would be also.

“You know what I was thinking?” I asked WW™.

“That we’re close to that restaurant we saw on Food Network with the breakfast pizza?” She replied.

A smile crept across my face and the plan was set into motion. We loaded up the kids and were soon wolfing down the dish we had seen on TV a few days earlier, glowing with the new-found discovery that eggs on pizza is a winning combination.

This is why we work well together. Food is the bond that holds us. We love to cook it. We constantly read about it. We watch how it’s made on TV. There is nothing that makes us happier than to bask in each other’s company inside a darkened restaurant, savoring an excellent meal.

Early in our relationship, WonderWife™ made me one of her specialties, an excellent pan-fried chicken breast. I returned the favor a few days later by treating her to my “famous” red sauce. One day in the kitchen, we had a “chocolate in my peanut butter” brainstorm. We poured the sauce over the chicken and the result was a sublime meal that was greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, adding sauce to chicken wasn’t a culinary breakthrough, but that simple dish had taught us that we clicked in the kitchen. The rest has become well blogged about history.

Though we consider ourselves foodies, having kids and no family within 2000 miles has limited our ability to eat out, and our busy lives means that we’re often cooking meals for the youngest members of our gang more than for ourselves. But our passion for good food and cooking remains the glue that keeps us stuck to each other. Thankfully, our kids share this love as well and are willing to explore with us. Weekends often include trips to farmers markets or breakfast experiments like confetti pancakes or chocolate milk French toast (both WonderWife™’s creations, by the way).

It’s easy to focus on the differences, as I often do, but in every relationship there needs to be some common ground. Otherwise, we become two separate people living under one roof. So no matter how divergent our tastes and hobbies become, WonderWife™ and I can always sack out on the couch with some wine and watch Food Network. Because really, what’s the point of being geeky if you can’t be geeky with the one you love?

-DGB


What hobbies, interests, passions do you share with your partner?

Many thanks to the illustrious ZenMom for asking me to contribute to this topic. And shout outs to Shelle for the great new format of the site!

13 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

I would say movies (interestingly, my wife LOVES comic movies because I "dragged" her to see X-Men with me when we were first dating) are our big "thing". We have common interests in our past (both musicians that no longer play regularly, craft painting) too, but now it's mostly movies and good tv.

Anonymous said...

Hey I could hang with y'all! Well kind, I really Really like to eat food!! and I'm good at it!

OneZenMom said...

I was going to leave a really stunningly clever comment. But now I have to go find something to eat. Be back later!

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

That was SOOOOOOOO well written, GAH, I love the way you write DGB!!!

Anyway, we have the same common interest in Food... but its usually to find the best hamburger in the respective town we are in because he thinks it's ridiculous to pay more than $6 for a good burger! LOL!

I kid I kid, I've forced him to take me to great tasting restaurants, some expensive (with a lot of eye rolling from him) and some no so much... but we love to do that together.

Like for instance, when we travel to a coastline, we LOVE to find the best seafood restaurant around. THe reason being both of us don't really eat seafood. One of the first times we traveled with somebody else they made us go to a sea food restaurant with them claiming that the sea food was to die for by a coast line because the fish are freshly caught... or something like that... so we did. And we loved it! So that is our little tradition now and we have so much fun scouring top restaurants in the area to see which one we will go to!.

But we also really really really like the same movies. We love going to movies or renting ones we haven't seen yet. Not a lot of talk or interaction, but we honestly don't need it because what is there left to talk about when you see and talk EVERYDAY!!! lol!

Great post DGB!

The format has been fun to see the different perspectives!

Thanks guys!

Chief said...

mmm...restaurant hopping is definitely our bod as well. Do I sense a theme here? We don't do recipe hopping but wee love to seek out many restaurants to see if they are yummy. Yest, this mean we have the runs alot but, it is all worth it for the bond we share with food.

Maybe that is where the 35% body fat comes from! hmmmm

Missty said...

great post! And we are foodies! We love to eat, and cook, and watch the food network.

We have a rule when traveling - no chain restaurants. If we can eat it at home, we don't eat it on vacation. So, we find the great little places in whatever city we are traveling.

I LOVE to go out to a nice place, and enjoy the food, and the company. Just soak it all in.

OneZenMom said...

Okay, I've eaten and I'm back to cause trouble. :)

Around our house, The ZenHusband is most definitely the head chef. I barely know how to boil toast.

But, while the cooking duty is (almost) all on him, one of the things we just LOVE to do together is watch Food Network shows - my kids knew who Alton Brown was before they knew who Elmo was!

And, on those rare dinners sans spawn, we love to talk about what spices are in this dish or how the chef prepared that dessert or what wine (or beer) would go with such-and-such entree.

We consider it just another offshoot of our general geekiness. ;)

Speaking of ... DGB, you are going to LOVE my post about how we spent last weekend. Assuming I ever get around to finishing it. :)

Just Jules said...

We are crazy stupid--- our perfect time together would be to backpack through a canyon, rock climb up to a plateau, camp the night or two while exploring cliff dwellings and then hike out at the end of the weekend - dirty and gross from "playing" outside and sleeping in a tent. We would cook on the backpack stove and drink our bottled packed in water.

The closest we have come to that lately was canoeing down the Mississippi this summer (for a day)

We would then quick pick some food up on the way home.

What do we do now that we are way tied down? We will go out to eat but I hate to pay for food, it never tastes worth it. Hit the theater for a movie and go home again making sure the sitter has the kids sleeping by the time we get there. Hang out at home until one of us falls asleep on the couch. Yeah... we have settled down, and changed our interests to meet our family.

DGB said...

Thanks for the complements everyone.

I've been so jealous of my wife all week cause she's been whipping up these awesome meals every night. Sure, I get to reap the benefits of eating great food...but I don't get to cook it.

WonderWife™'s reaction was, "Any time you want to cook...you go right ahead!"

wendy said...

That was a great post. You write very well. I can "muster up alot of thoughts" just can't seem to quite get them in print like I'd like.
Anyway, it is true that couples need SOME THINGS in common ( I believe) Food ---that is awesome. My significant other (*soon to be spouse on Oct. 3rd) loves to cook, so we too have found a certain bonding time in the kitchen. It is alot of fun.
Yet, couples also will always have their different interests.
Soon to be spouse loves to play computer games, World of Warcraft (wtf)
I love to blog.
BUT ---get this, he will actually watch Dancing with the Stars and So you Think You Can Dance with me!!
NOW THAT --is true love.

DGB said...

Wendy...You have a good man there. Don't bust his WOW playing too hard.

Shelle-BlokThoughts said...

How funny...eating and movies could bond all of us together! Anyone wanna hang? Lol

Steph said...

I'm a bit late to the party but hubby & I enjoy traveling together and with the little one. Sometimes it's a weekend trip where he rides dirt bikes and we camp, other times it's a beach where I sit and read and he and DD play in the sand, and try to cover me in it.

We enjoy our time together!!

DGB- Great post. Too bad I'm on the other coast, otherwise I would LOVE to try some of WW's great food!!

WE BELONG