Everyday at work, I find cooking to be the most desired task among us caregivers. “It’s a good thing I find joy in it, otherwise, I’d probably be making sandwiches.”
It’s like being an artist, but with food. Your brushes and your pencils are like your spoons and spatulas. Your colors and your paints are like your ingredients. The stove and oven is your canvas. When it all comes together, you finally have your masterpiece.
I would say my masterpieces are more like experiments. Sad to say, my special friends are my guinea pigs. But, never the less, they are always grateful for the food in which I prepare for them.
I always try to find things they might like such as their favorite foods, new and healthy foods. I love searching the internet for recipes with the ingredients at hand. Sometimes, I don’t always have the ingredients I need to make a proper meal. Somehow, I find a way to make it work with substitutions, like using ketchup instead of tomato paste, brown sugar, butter and water for some homemade syrup on waffles. It takes some creative thinking when it comes to cooking and lots of research.
Of course, nothing beats the special treats!! The most desired meal of the day is dessert. Often, I find it hard for myself to bake a cake or cookies for my special friends. Most of the time, I buy special treats for them to have during the week. When I do find the time to bake, it’s always made with love. One of their favorites is homemade banana bread. Often, when their bananas become soft, I’ll whip up a few loaves of this breakfast bread. By the end of the day, a loaf is gone.
It does hurt sometimes when a meal doesn’t pan out. You tend to have a picky eater in the bunch, “IT’S TOO COLD… IT’S TOO DRY!!” They stage a hunger strike because they rather have a sweet treat instead of a wholesome meal. Never the less, I know deep down that the food is appreciated. After all, food means love in my dictionary and I love my special friends very much.
