You know the signs. Interest in gardening, cardigans, family history…among the list of signs that you are getting on. (Some of us have liked cardigans for a while, but we won’t dwell on that.)
Perhaps one of mine is an interest in a little more tradition for the weekend, or something to mark the fact that the weekend is a time to slow down. I’ve probably already written about my cooking phases, and the fact that roasting chicken in different ways is the current focus. So here’s my chance to champion the Coop, and their chickens that are organic, reasonably priced, and even better, delicious!
But alongside this, starting to think about ‘oven economy’, and how to get best use out of the oven when it’s on. Last weekend and this, trying to do some baking while the oven’s on. I wouldn’t claim to have this sussed – and in fact, the aim is to get a double oven so I can only have the appropriate bit on when I need it, or cook things together at different temperatures.
I know that in the past, there were different days for different household tasks. Washing day, baking day, etc. I don’t know that I’ll ever get as far as a fixed baking/cooking day (and I certainly don’t want to have a washing day – three cheers for washing machines!). But I certainly agree with Nigella et al that there is something soothing about cooking various things together.
It allows for a different rhythm to part of the week. How much of the rest of the week allows me to do one kind of activity (apart from sleeping, I suppose) for more than an hour or so? Life at work can get very fragmented – certainly felt like this last week, settling back in and going from task to task, or even bits of tasks, before being pulled on to something else.
There is a sense of peace from doing these things that permeates into the start of the week. Knowing that there is more ‘already done’ for the next few days makes it easier to deal with that unhappy bump back into Monday mornings.
Maybe the nicer side of getting older is realising that there are certain patterns to life, and that we can choose which patterns help us, which to take on as our own. Alongside this, our concern about what others will think starts to wane. So hurrah for cardigans, Sunday roasts, and slippers…