Date Night In

James and I kinda had a date night on Monday. We had just gotten back from a weekend in Ohio and my house was devoid of food. The weather was gorgeous and James decided to pick up some groceries that he could grill that night. Now let me tell you that my hubby is an awesome cook. When we were first married, I felt out of practice from cooking and felt intimidated by his skills. I didn't like him in the kitchen as I was cooking because I felt as though he would think he could do things better than me. I am proud to say that I have honed my own cooking skills and am a pretty decent chef. But the difference between James and I is that I cook because I have to. Now, I love finding new recipes and trying them out and I love eating the finished product but I also put almost no creative effort into it. Give me a recipe and I will happily follow it. Only recently have I started to be a bit more flexible and don't have to measure EVERYTHING perfectly. I eyeball it a bit more which is HUGE for me since I am usually a pretty strict follower of what the recipe tells me. I get upset when it doesn't turn out right since I did everything that I was supposed to. James, on the other hand actually loves to cook. It is a creative outlet for him. He never follows recipes and just usually whips things together based on what he knows will taste good. He experiments, he tastes as he goes along, he changes things up. (I rarely taste my food as I am cooking it which is probably very strange.) He used to tell me to just look in the fridge and panty and cook something up. I would panic and say that I can't that I need a recipe but he has the skills to do that.

Anyway, so yes my husband is a fantastic cook and he enjoys cooking on occasion when the mood strikes him which I love. He enjoys the whole process from beginning to end. I usually dread the dinner hour and don't really enjoy the prep work and cooking process, I just look forward to seeing how it turns out and eating it!

But last Monday James was in the mood to cook so he brought home fresh catfish, small red potatoes, brussles sprouts and our favorite Yellowtail wine. Everything turned out amazing! I was afraid of the catfish since he had grilled it once before after we were first married and I thought it tasted disgusting, like the bottom of the ocean. He loves catfish and wanted to give it another go. He put cajun spice on the catfish and had the potatoes and brussles sprouts tossed in olive oil and lots of garlic and wrapped everything in tinfoil to put on the grill. He even set the table with candles and we had nice music playing in the background. He is so thoughtful and sweet. The dinner was delicious and it was so nice to have an unexpected "date night" without having to go anywhere. I predict that there will be far more of these during the summer and I can't wait!