Cooking for me is one of my happy places and funnily enough it is something that my hubby and I love to do together. These days however, things get in the way and our time in the kitchen together, enjoying and creating epic masterpieces or epic disasters are few and far between due to work, a one year old who keeps us on our toes and everything else in between.
This is something we need to work on because it is a combined passion that brings laughter and joy to our relationship and in some ways, allows us to put aside the dramas and trials we currently face as individuals and as a couple. It allows us to take some time to rekindle what makes us unique and why we are each other’s best friend, lover, confident and number one supporter.
Today as I stood in the kitchen prepping some yummy and colourful ingredients for a Mexican inspired fiesta it dawned on me how marriage is like a recipe, not just one recipe but many recipes, coming together to create something amazing.
At times in our marriage we will have a recipe that is the perfect balance, then things will pop up, a little too much salt may join the party or not enough salt, or a main ingredient may fall to the wayside, changing the dynamic of how smoothly our recipe is progressing.
Progressing is the key, there is no perfect recipe for marriage, we each have our own unique and different recipe because that’s why we fall in love and find our perfect human in this imperfect world.
The perfect recipe to marriage is continuing to add ingredients as you go, sometimes it will only require a simple ingredient, other times requiring you to be bold and take a chance on an ingredient you wouldn’t normally choose and sometimes it will be that an ingredient isn’t working so you remove it and find one that does.
The most important thing is that you continue to create this recipe together, you add ingredients in agreeance, you add ingredients because you are in this recipe together as one, working to always create something epic, full of flavour that has you wanting to always go back for more.
My top recipe tips:
1. Don’t be afraid to add a bit of hot sauce for spice (or a full-bodied chilli for that KAPOW effect)
2. A drop of brandy or two keeps the doctor away
3. A simple recipe can at times be all that you need, don’t over complicate with too many herbs and spices unless you feel it is needed.
4. Keep it fresh, light and fun
5. Always have a strong foundation to your recipe. Strong foundations keep the recipe together, no matter the challenges that unfold.
6. Indulge, take yourselves out to enjoy a dinner for two where you can explore new recipes that may bring some flare and creativity that you can add to your own recipe.
7. Take your time with your recipe, remember that we are our own individuals, we bring different opinions, different views and beliefs to the relationship. These are some of the reasons you married each other. Find ingredients that allow you to not lose yourself in one another but allow you to grow side by side, together as one.
8. There is no perfect recipe, your recipe will not necessarily be the same as another couple’s. The key is to never stop trying with your recipe, take time to enjoy it, nurture it and love it for what it is and where it is in that moment.
Yummy food and your favourite human = my happy place, so on that note I’m off to enjoy my Mexican fiesta with a wine or two.