Disappointing
- rosemary
- Oct 26
- 5 min read
"Disappointments are inevitable; discouragement is a choice."
Charles Stanley
I like to have on my desk, a desk calendar - one of those things that stands on your desk waiting for you to tear off each day as it passes. I also have a diary - yes I use a paper diary. My excuse is age.
Normally I have an art based one. I like to see paintings I don't know, discover beautiful pictures and new artists, even occasional blog inspiration. However, last year as the possibilities diminished because yet again I had left it all too late, I chose this New York Times one. I had used various NYT recipes from time to time, so why not? And surely a new recipe every day from such a prestigious publication, whose online recipes are behind a pay wall, would be fairly constant inspiration?
Alas it has not turned out that way. I am rarely inspired to cook any of the recipes and they even more rarely inspire me blog wise. So I am probably going to go back to the Met, who for 2026 has a desk calendar of paintings of Paris by the Impressionists.
Today however, I decided to take the bull by the horns, and ask myself why I am not inspired and am even bored by the recipe selection. Well not today - last Tuesday actually - it has taken me until now to get around to it.
It was this recipe here which finally had me marginally exasperated - although in a questioning kind of way. I mean look at that title Harissa and miso spaghetti - three cuisines in one. The recipe was devised by Nargisse Benkabbou, whose name I have noticed before somewhere - probably on the calendar. And I looked at this and thought a few things - how somehow extremely predictable, somehow same old, same old, and yet, deep down I suspect it might actually taste good. And it's hardly the food I grew up with. So what's wrong with me, because it's a recipe that demonstrates how far we have come since post-war rationing in a Britain that still thought that roast beef was the ultimate treat?
For starters bear in mind that virtually all of my posts are dealing with the food of the Western world - the world that has it's foodie roots in Europe, remembering that that European food actually had major influences from the Arab world and even the far east. Which is why we can call Fish and chips a British dish even though its origins are from Jews from far eastern Europe, even Asia.
Speaking of the times of my memory however, - post-war onwards - first of all we rediscovered the food of Europe and the Mediterranean, from those writers who travelled and collected recipes to brighten up our dismal post-war world. We began to travel ourselves - all of us - not just the rich, and although some still clung to their fish and chips on the Costa Brava, many of us were much more adventurous and tried the local specialities. Restaurants began to open that served up these delights - I remember Odin's and Bistro 42 in particular where you could eat all of those traditional French dishes. The picture is of Odin's although I think it's a later redecoration as I vaguely remember bicycles hanging from the ceiling.
Gradually the ingredients crept into our supermarkets and on and on the exploration and experimentation went. Italy, the rest of the Mediterranean and the Middle-East exploded into our kitchens, later Asia and Mexico, and then we got the real innovators who started combining cuisines, until even our supermarket magazines are filled with dishes like Barbecue halloumi platter; Pad Thai rolls; Chopped Greek-style salad with fetta; Bang bang chicken bowl and Burger crunch wraps - to name just a few plucked at random from the latest Coles Magazine. So I guess I was expecting something more from The New York Times.
But no. Here is a list of last week's recipes: Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich; Pasta and lentils (Pasta e Lenticchie) - which to be fair I did first write about and then cook; Peanut-butter fudge; Skillet chicken with tomatoes, pancetta and mozzarella; Spicy peanut and pumpkin soup; Roasted potatoes and Chocolate self-saucing cake, not forgetting my Harissa and miso spaghetti.
Why am I bored by this parade of recipes for things my mother would never have dreamt of - except for the chocolate cake?
Today it's these Roasted chicken thighs with tangy apricots and carrots. It looks pretty delicious, is relatively simple and has an eclectic mix of flavours - mayonnaise, fish sauce, garlic and coriander. And yet I don't feel tempted to try it - well perhaps a tiny bit - and have definitely seen many similar dishes here and there. This version is by Eric Kim, who is a regular NYT contributor, and his recipes are more interesting than many - as are Ali Slagle's. Most however, to my somewhat jaded eyes, are not.
I began writing my blog way back in July 2016 with the headline - "I like food, and I'm bored." So I guess today I'm asking myself have I come full circle and don't like food (and cooking) that much anymore as well as being bored all over again but in a different way?
Maybe it's the weather again. Today is a day of relentlessly steady rain. Which we actually need. That's a whole subject in itself to explore is it not? Why are we often so downhearted on a rainy day, when it is refreshing the natural world, and when it has it's own beauty here and there - drops hanging off leaves and shining in the light, mist furling through the trees and softening the colours, ducks shaking the water from their backs ...
But I digress. Dare I ask myself whether I am in fact a tiny bit anti-American. If this was a desk calendar from The Guardian say, would I feel the same disappointment even though the recipes would be similar? Do I really think that all of those British cooks that I love are better than the American ones?
Maybe I should just return to my roots and make roast beef! Although because of its price, that has become a bit of a very occasional treat. No actually it's just going to be a something and everything omelette - a regular Sunday meal I think. Or maybe I should actually try that Harissa and miso spaghetti - well no I can't do that because of the harissa (it's hot, hot, hot) - maybe Ottolenghi's hawaij paste instead?
Maybe it's because I did one of those big family meals yesterday for my now 15 year-old grandson's birthday. Spaghetti and meatballs as requested - another example of something now commonplace, once exotic. Boring rolling all those meatballs.
"Disappointment is temporary. Only your thought about it is permanent. Change your mind about what has disappointed you and you will change your life." Neale Donald Walsch
Now how to change my mind?
YEARS GONE BY
October 26
2024 - Forever Summer with Nigella
2023 - Nothing
2021 - Nothing
2020 - Missing
2017 - Barramundi for dinner
2016 - Hamburger buns
So admire your dedication.
Maybe you should try a week without blogs... and see if you miss the experience? 😅