Better from Scratch

When I was little, I thought mashed potatoes took hours to make.  That’s because we only had them, the real kind where you boil them first then whip them with milk and butter, on major holidays like Thanksgiving and birthdays.  It wasn’t until three years ago when my brother and I figured out that the problem was actually how many cooking implements needed to be washed afterwards.  My mom, of course, acted like we were silly for not realizing earlier how quickly mashed potatoes can be made, and we had to remind her that we grew up on the instant flakes (the thought of which now makes me shudder just a little on the inside).

I bring this up because I made another item this evening that doesn’t take that long, just some forethought.  I figured that lemonade from scratch would be more involved than “boil the water and sugar together.  cool.  add squeezed lemon juice.  serve over ice.”  The cookbook’s description of the wonders of lemonade were longer than the actual recipe.  The hardest part was for me to be patient while the simple syrup cooled in the fridge.  Sugar is cheap.  So are lemons.  Why did it take me until age 26 to make it from scratch?  Seriously?

I don’t think I’m being silly here.  And I’m not trying to speak poorly about my mom, who provided balanced meals as I grew up.  I mention these because they taste so much better than their store bought counterparts and yet making anything from scratch is becoming a less frequent occurrence.  It makes me nostalgic for a time I’ve never lived in.

To counteract this unusual sentimentality, I will also list some items that are WAY better from scratch but take long enough that I am better off buying at the store or ordering from my favorite restaurant:

Bread – love doing this but don’t love the at  least 4 hour it takes
Chicken Cacciatore – I never got to the point where the wine evaporated completely (or even very much at all).  Takes forever.
Enchiladas – Uh, I live in Texas.  Less than 15 minutes and 8 dollars is all it takes for excellence.

P.S.  Add fresh strawberries to the lemonade for extra goodness