The title may seem far afield from the content of this essay, but do hang with me and I think you will get my drift. Either that or you will decide that a coffee break from reviewing is in order.

I use the 'bear' analogy to demonstrate how far away from my kitchen and cooking I have wandered over the years. Once, I was a reasonably imaginative and somewhat fair cook. Although I do admit to not having an auspicious beginning where cooking is concerned. I had my share of disasters, e.g. broiling a piece of round steak before tenderizing it, resulting in meat so tough one could make combat boots. The army certainly missed an opportunity when they didn't pluck me from obscurity to be one of their mess hall cooks, at least in my first stages of learning to cook. I was always an excellent baker, but baking and cooking are two very different animals.

Over the years, with my children grown and only myself to feed, I began to make fewer and fewer trips to the kitchen to cook. My view on cooking for one person is simply that it sucks!!

However, as time passes, I find myself relying heavily on my supplements to sustain me, as my eating habits have become a bit strange. On arriving home from work I am too tired to think about anything complicated for dinner. If I can't nuke it or put it in the toaster I am not interested. My once nicely stocked kitchen has dwindled to that of a cook's wagon on a cattle drive. Utensils are few, pots and pans fewer. So, when I recently decided that I needed to start eating better, i.e. fresh food that is not frozen or out of a bag, I was dismayed at how impoverished my kitchen inventory was. My first thought was that I would need some serious help to get reacquainted with all things pertaining to actual, hands-on cooking.

I decided to try one of the many home delivery cooking sites. This is where you sign up to have them deliver meals to your door that you must then prepare and cook. All the ingredients are in the box, along with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare the meals. You have the option of selecting from their menu meals you want to try. I opted for meals that stated they were either easy (meaning no cooking required whatsoever) or moderate, which consists of mostly one-dish meals.

Having read over all the items I would need to prepare my meals, I found that a trip to the store to pick up some utensils was necessary. Once I had all my ducks in a row, so to speak, I began to prepare my first meal. It was a one dish meal called "Steak Strip Empanada Rice Bowl with chimichurri". It called for preparing Jasmin rice and while that was bubbling away, I was to halve and seed a jalapeno, mince cilantro and juice one lime. With the rice set aside, I then moved on to the steak strips, browning them and adding tomato sauce and taco seasoning. Okay granted, this was not brain surgery, but when you have been dealing with only one or two rudimentary appliances in the kitchen for several decades, this kind of coordinated effort can be daunting. It is a lot like being a rookie taxi driver thrown into rush hour tragic in downtown Beirut with his brake lines cut! If timing is everything to the successful outcome of cooking a meal, then I was seriously lagging behind.

There appears to be a kind of choreography when it comes to preparing a meal and I felt as if I had two left feet. To say that I am rusty when it comes to cooking is a gross understatement.

At the end of this arduous task, I managed to somehow pull it all together without setting the kitchen ablaze. However, that particular area looked as if a bomb had exploded. There were enough used pots, pans and collateral utensils equivalent to preparing meals for a small country. All for the privilege of seeing a finished one-dish meal in a nicely appointed ceramic bowl. I believe the Yiddish word for crazy is "mshuge".

I think when it comes to culinary endeavors, I like the way W.C. Fields approached cooking:

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food." -- W.C Fields

I wonder what a little vodka would do, for me, not the food?

All in all, I can attest to the fact that what I prepared was edible and no first responders had to be called to either pump my stomach or put out a fire. I consider this a righteous outcome my friends.

"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking, you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude." -- Julia Childs

I definitely followed Julia's advice about approaching cooking with a what-the-hell attitude. However, the Uber Eats app is looking more appealing all the time!

Bon Appetit