Ended up talking on the phone while doing dishes and just eatting carrots and humus followed by tea and a cookie as my evening meal since I was too busy unearthing the kitchen sink to even consider making the fancier/more complex dinner I was thinking about oridgionally. Thank god for having quick to munch yet nourishing food on hand! 11 months ago

I love cooking, but dishes seem to consume my life when I really go all out creating yummy meals. Yesterday I was in the kitchen from 2:30 pm – 9:30 pm, with only two half hour breaks! Took me 1.5 hrs to clean out the fridge and do all the dishes etc that had built up in the kitchen before I even started baking the cookies I promised my loved ones, and getting dinner going. Tried to clean up as I went as best as possible, but making 8 different things in one afternoon equated to a LOT of work!

I insisted on putting the food away after dinner, which took me twenty min, but there is still a small pile of dishes waiting for me today.

At least we’ll have some good left overs :) 11 months ago

Haven’t been doing a huge amount of complex cooking the last week or two, but in general I’m getting myself fed and the kitchen at least somewhat cleaned up by 7:30 or 8 pm. 11 months ago

Saturday we went hiking all day, and I still got fresh stew and home made corn bread on the table by 7:30. We were in bed by 9. Definitely better. Still room for improvement though. 12 months ago

For one reason or another, I keep not starting to cook until pretty late, which when I make awesome complex meals results in a really late dinner and even later clean up.

Last night for example, we ended up starting to cook about 6 pm. Between all the chopping/prep work, actually making the meat balls, baking them, and making the pan fried pasta to go with, asian slaw, and cooking stuff for yum bowls later in the week as well, it was 9:20 by the time we sat down to eat… and I didn’t finish cleaning the kitchen til 10:30!

So new rule of thumb – weekend cooking extravaganza has to start by 3:30-4 pm, or a simple dinner it is! 12 months ago

5/1/2012 – 9:15. A friend came over, and ended up staying a while to unexpectedly help me with a project I was working on. I pulled out left overs and heated them just as soon as she left.

5/6/2012 – 10:30: See meat ball entry above

5/7/2012 – 10:45: Baked bread after dealing with car issues to decompress 12 months ago

Took a break of keeping track over the weekend as I was on vacation. Tonight I’m starting back with being mindful of early evenings again.

4/17/2012 = 8:10 pm

4/19/2012 = 9:30 pm—took a nap in the early evening, and didn’t start cooking until about 9 pm!

4/24/2012 = 8:10 pm. Salad and samosas. 13 months ago

4/5/2012 = 8:20

4/6/2012 – went out on the way home from work. Home by 8:15

4/7/2012 = passover at my P’s – finished dinner about 8:15.

4/8/2012 = 7 pm. Girly picnic food dinner with S :)

4/9/2012 = Went out to celebrate my birthday – got home around 9 pm

4/10/2012 = 10:45 pm! Didn’t leave work until well after 10!!!

4/11/2012 = 7:30 pm – last client finished up at 4:30, left work by 5, went food shopping, and came home to cook a simple meal. Felt really great! 13 months ago

3/24/2012 = 7:45 pm. Yum bowls after running errends and attending a fair in the afternoon.

3/25/2012 = 10:15 pm! Got home from working out 7pm. Spent from 7-9:30 alternating between dinner preperations and helping my sweetie at critical points in his woodworking project. Took me a while to clean the kitchen after we ate.

3/26/2012 = out to dinner with Ps. Otherwise would have been on time, as I left work by 7:30.

3/27/2012 = 9:02 pm. Went swimming tonight, and meant to come home for dinner reasonably promptly, but as often happens, got caught up talking/visiting with my friend. *she pulled out her stones, and that was just too tempting to walk away from!

3/30/2012 = sweetie made dinner, and we ate about 7:30 after I got home from work.

3/31/2012 = 9:30 – ended up running late with my meeting, and then had to go get M from GL before coming home to eat take out.

4/1/2012 = 7pm – went out to dinner on my way home from outcall. Just had to put leftovers in fridge.

4/2/2012 = 8:30 – heated/cooked leftovers and tempeh after working out.

4/3/2012 = 8:40 – leftovers again after swimming tonight. So grateful to have them ready to go! 14 months ago

3/24/2012 = 7:45 pm. Yum bowls after running errends and attending a fair in the afternoon.

3/25/2012 = 10:15 pm! Got home from working out 7pm. Spent from 7-9:30 alternating between dinner preperations and helping my sweetie at critical points in his woodworking project. Took me a while to clean the kitchen after we ate. 14 months ago

Looking at my “log” I’m getting a much better idea of what my tendencies actually are and what causes my time frame to get scewed. Liking this goal and the awareness it’s bringing to my life :) 14 months ago

3/11/2012 = closed kitchen at 8:49. Went swimming tonight, and didn’t get home until 7:45. Had dinner on the table by 8:25. Finished eatting by 8:38. Spent ten min cleaning up what had to be dealt with, leaving the rest for tomorrow. A good start.

3/12/2012 = Closed kitchen by 8:32. Didn’t get home from work until 8:10. Heated left overs and ate. Put dishes in dish washer while talking with K on phone.

3/13/2012 = went out to dinner late

3/14/2012 = 7:58. Started making GF pizza at 7:15, was out of the ktichen (though it wasn’t fully clean) by 8 pm :)

3/15/2012 = 7:35. Washed the pots I used, but left the rest of the mess

3/16/2012 = 10:30!!!! (didn’t get home from work until 9:30, and hadn’t prepared anything, so started cooking from scratch… made veggie scramble, and cleaned up.)

3/17/2012 = out to dinner with a friend, finishing about 9 pm

3/18/2012 = Went to dinner at my Parents home – 7-9 pm.

3/19/2012 = 7:38 pm. Got home at seven, and heated left over thai food.

3/20/2012 = 8:40. Home from the health club and shopping by 7:05. Made Yum bowls.

3/21/2012 = went out while helping friend move

3/22/2012 = 7pm. Skipped gym tonight, and made yum bowls with left over ingredients from the other night.

3/23/2012 = 10pm! Didn’t leave work until 7:45. Had to stop by my P’s and then NS before heading home. Started cooking about 8:15. Was slow as I was out of it with exhaustion and hunger. Had dinner on the table by nine. Friend was visiting, so we talked for quite a while before I got up to clean up. 14 months ago

I’ve slid into the habit of being on the go with projects, or getting caught up at work, at the gym, etc, before suddenly realizing it’s getting late, and heading off to the grocery store to pick up ingrediants to START cooking dinner around 9 pm more often than not! So while I ideally might like to have my kitchen closed for the night by 8, I’m going to start with the goal of having finished putting away left overs, doing at least some of the dishes, and wiping down the counters by 8:45 each night.

Here are my motivations for closing my kitchen by 8:45

1) Time to digest before going to sleep by 10 pm
2) Accountability for how I’m spending my time
3) Be supportive of my partner’s physiological needs
4) be healthy!

My goal is to have dinner on the table by 8:15 latest. And to have meals planned out and potentially prepared in advance so that all the ingrediants are ready to go. I think i can do this! 14 months ago