I slacked off again today. But I decided to count it as having cooked properly.

— A meal for a day when I decided this was enough

Sometimes I suddenly wonder,
why is it that I'm the one who decides
what to have for dinner today?

On days like that,
even "thinking" becomes a chore.

Opening the fridge,
searching for something,
remembering a grocery list—
I want to put it all off.

What I had in the fridge were vegetables and pork I'd bought intending to make vegetable meat rolls.
But the task of "rolling" felt way too tedious, so
I thought, "Well, steaming them should work out somehow," and
lined them up in a frying pan, covered it, and turned on the heat.

Perhaps, to someone who cooks properly,
this might be called "cutting corners."
But for me right now, this is the best I can do.
This was my own way of "deciding that I had cooked properly."

As the steam rose up softly
and a faint, pleasant aroma began to drift out,
something inside me felt a little bit unraveled.

I felt like I could tell myself,
"Ah, this is good enough for today."

It's not perfect.
It's not nutritionally balanced, and I didn't even plate it.

But beyond that steam,
there was a feeling of being able to say to myself,
"You did a good job today," in a small voice.

The old me
thought I had to follow recipes exactly, and
I used to put pressure on myself,
thinking, "I have to do this right."

But now, just "looking like I did it right" is enough.
I think it's fine to have a meal that is just right for me,
and one that no one would get angry at.

Cooking might be something you do for someone else,
but perhaps it's also, in truth, a time to restore your own spirit.

What I made today was
just vegetables and meat steamed in a frying pan.

Even so,
that feeling of "having decided I cooked properly"
made me feel a little more positive.

▲ Vegetables, meat, and tofu just steamed in a frying pan.
I didn't even plate it. Just a meal with the effort removed.
But he ate it so heartily it surprised me,
and it was a meal that made me think, "This was fine."

I would be happy if this meal on this day
could lead someone to think, "Oh, I could do this too."

Here, I will slowly write about
such "meals and words that help you unwind."

♦︎ If you'd like, here are some seasonal meals too.
"When I steamed the corn, summer became gentler."
— A story about steamed corn that I end up making over and over when summer comes.