I'm hungry

Before my lovely husband and I got married, some friends threw me a wedding shower. Actually, it was a surprise wedding shower. Having both been married once before, and with our first daughter already a year old and the twins percolating nicely in my oh so fertile womb, we were planning a very simple wedding, and hadn't given any thought to the extras like showers etc. So it was a fun surprise, complete with goofy party games and silly hats and excellent cake. The game I remember most was one where each person had to write down which household chore they hated the most, and then hand it over to the lady in charge of the game. Then each one was read out loud, with the tag line "between the sheets" added on to the end of each chore.  Naturally, much hilarity ensued. For myself, it was a tough call; I would gladly do away with ever having to do housework of any kind forever if I could, so how to choose just one thing? In the end I drew inspiration from my already daily household routine of housewife and mother, and picked "figuring out what to make for dinner", which isn't really all that funny when you add "between the sheets" after it. But seriously. Of all the things I deal with on a day to day basis with my family, I have to say the one that continues to threaten to push me completely over the crumbling brink of my sanity is hearing that dreaded phrase, "I'm hungry. What's for dinner?" Actually, even just hearing "I'm hungry..." invokes an immediate stress response in me.  I swear sometimes planning meals is the only thing I use my remaining brain cells for (okay, all that partying in university really took it out of me, and most of the rest of them have just wasted away amidst the recent years of dirty diapers and snotty noses). But try as I might, I don't enjoy it. Ironically, once I have made it through the torture of figuring out what to make, I really enjoy cooking. I'm even not half bad at it, most of the time, although there are certain gastronomic disasters in my past that I still have not lived down - yes, I'm talking about the slow cooker stuffing in particular, to all my in-laws who might read this!
One of my favorite ways to plan and execute a meal is with my sister. She and I try to cook dinner together at least once a week, while enjoying a glass (or three) of red wine. She has three teenage sons, so has been doing the family cooking thing for a few more years than I have, and therefore has a much vaster wealth of experience to draw from. So I find it quite inspiring to cook with her, as she always has great kid friendly yet haute cuisine ideas to put on the dinner table. Plus of course there's the added bonus that she lives in a time zone one hour ahead of me, so while she is putting the finishing touches on her supper table, I still have time to play catch up to get mine done. Yes, we live over 1000km apart, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying each other's company in the kitchen on a regular basis. Another big gun in my arsenal of menu planning is the cook book my mother made for me for Christmas a few years ago. She filled it with all our favorite family recipes from when I was growing up, and I have continued to add to it whenever I come up with a new winner. It is truly one of the greatest gifts I have ever received.
And lastly, when all else fails, and my brain totally jams, I have my husband to fall back on. Yes, I am one of those lucky ladies whose husband loves to cook, is great at cooking, and actually does cook every chance he gets. He reads cook books like they're novels. When we started renovating our kitchen 3 years ago (what, we like to take our time, get our renos just right) he installed a fabulous gas 5 burner, double oven range and hasn't stopped cooking since. So while I take care of most of our week day meals, I know that on the weekend it's his show, and I quite happily take on the role of prep cook and official food taster.
In answer to the dreaded "I'm hungry..."uttered mid-morning and/or mid-afternoon by my daughters, I am working on encouraging them to plan and prepare their own snacks(with supervision and veto power of course). I guess I'm hoping that it will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak - keep them from driving me completely mental, and instill in them how much more fun food is when you pick it, prep it and cook it yourself. Plus it would be a nice bonus if I could pass along the tradition of sharing kitchen time with your sister.