When I got married 5 years ago, I promised my wife I would cook more. It was an easy promise to keep if my intention was only to stick to the letter of the promise and not necessarily the spirit of it. I pretty much never cooked, so by the time I'd completed three meals, I was able to say I was a man of my word. But of course, I knew that I'd make a much better husband if I had the ability to cook the food as well as I ate it. For various reasons over the years, none important enough to justify being a non-cooking bum, I've been a non-cooking bum. Now with a healthy lifestyle and the fresh new palette that comes along with it, I know that it's imperative that I learn how to cook the dishes that will be better for the inside of our bodies. Plus it's nice to be able to have an aromatic dinner awaiting my wife after a hard day at work. It's not too hard to take an hour out of my day a few times a week to whip up something. I'm a lot more confident cooking by myself and learning from the mistakes that led to some disastrous cooking attempts in the past. Trial and error is a great teacher and I'm coming along at a nice, steady pace. Being meticulous about what I put into my body has given me a nice little skill for adjusting ingredients based on portion size and how certain nutrients interact that I didn't know I'd have. I'm no Chef Boy-Star-P, but I'm actually enjoying cooking, and I look forward to being adventurous in making some healthy and tasty food, and not always having to go to a restaurant or supermarket for the convenience of certain dishes. These are a couple of dishes I made this week; on the left is a shrimp/scallop recipe I found online, which I customized a little bit, using jerk seasoning, a little curry, and sautéed onions and bell peppers. I ate it with some quinoa and it came out good as hell. I learned some things about the different rates in which the veggies cook, and how sauteeing them brings out the flavor in a way that you don't even have to go crazy with the seasonings. This emboldened my to try a vegetarian dish - zucchini, onions, peppers with basil and garlic in tomato sauce with wheat penne pasta. I still had some shrimp left over though, so I decided to add those. Again, I customized the recipe a little to fit what I had in the house, and again, it came out great! I've caught the bug. No, I don't always expect to be this successful, but to know that I can put together the kind of meal my body responds to that I enjoy as much as a restaurant meal (not to mention, being fully aware of all of the ingredients) gives me a sense of pride, relief and accomplishment. Plus, it's mutually beneficial for me and my wife. Win-win.

This is me writing this blog in Java U Cafe by my old crib on Al Saad. Sometimes it gets so annoying being stared at all the time. Sometimes I just want to turn around and say, "Black dudes do regular shit sometimes too. Like buy a way-too-sweet rasberry smoothie and a water, to go with the tuna, crackers and trail mix we snuck in just so we can use fee-wifi."

They have these here. Sometimes I want to eat all of these. And then I don't. But I want to.

We finally have curtains, by the way.