The Sweet Life

I've broken my culinary "dry spell" in one day with two dishes.  Today I made veggie pot pies for another time and tuna curry for lunch.  The pies are frozen for those days/nights when I really don't want to cook.  They're also a way for me to remember another comfort food from my childhood. I don't want to say that I "grew up on Swanson's Chicken Pot Pies" because that's not all that I ate.  My mom was a single working mother, and there were times when a pot pie was dinner and I was fine with that.  I loved the crust pretty well cooked, nicely browned, flaky.  Come to think of it, I think that was my favorite part!  Anyway, I've been a pescetarian for many years now, and with fall approaching, I was craving pot pies-or maybe craving home and childhood-and since I had the recipe from Barefoot Contessa, I figured now was as good a time as any to make some.  I bought some veggies from the market last Saturday, and picked up a few other ...

What do you do when you've hit a wall you can't climb over or blow apart?  When every recipe you try, even those recipes you've made night after night for service in the restaurant, fail in your kitchen at home?  When money runs out after buying dozens and dozens of eggs, and the price of butter makes you want to cry?  When frustration causes you to doubt yourself and you just want to give up and consider another career?  You take a break.  A long one.  You turn your back on the thing that used to excite you and just get through each day without thinking about tomorrow. I haven't baked or cooked anything in a while.  A long while.  Though I clock in and fulfill my obligations at work, at home I haven't done anything.  I've been wearing my Grumpy Pants and Frowny-the-Clown shirt like my favorite sweats I wear when I'm home and it's just me and a movie and fried foods and ice cream.  I've grown comfortable in this funk and I don...