Relationship Repair: Yakitori Don

Jonathan and I have been thinking of ways to improve our relationship lately.  I have to admit, I knew Jonathan's job would require a lot of him, but I was not quite prepared for what it means to only see my husband for a couple hours a day or less during the week and sometimes on the weekend too.  Not to mention that we also just had a baby...Honestly, it's difficult to remember that we were once a young, hip couple who spent every waking moment hanging on to every word, every kiss, every touch that the other person shared.  Now, Jonathan and I are lucky to share a single meal together during the week.  Sometimes it feels that the only thing that we have in common is our kids...Much of the time we find ourselves in each other's way, and we often fall into our default bickering battles.

No, No...don't worry.  I'm just taking a second to be honest.  Let's face it, marriage is all about peaks and valleys.  Jonathan and I are pretty good at recognizing when we are in a valley and we usually find ways to set ourselves back on track towards a happy peak.  However, now, since we have so little time to concentrate on each other, we've had to take an innovative approach to pulling ourselves out of this small rut.

What we decided to do was to come up with a an activity that would meet a number of objectives that could help us feel...more connected.  We needed to find an activity that we were both interested in. Something that would require that we work together, that we both learn something new, and that we relax and talk together.  Of course, it would have to be something that could be completed in an hour or less.  Our answer:  Learn to cook Japanese food.  Jonathan loves Japan; I love to cook.  We both love to eat.  We work together to prepare the food.  Neither of us knows much about Japanese cooking, so we are learning together.  And finally, we can relax and talk as we dine upon our completed dish.

We tried it out for the first time last night, and it was mostly successful! We made Yakitori Don!  We learned how to poach an egg and make a yakitori glaze.  There was some latent bickering, but that is to be expected. I mean, really, Jonathan and I are both chefs, no sous chefs in our relationship.   We reminisced about the summers we spent in Japan and the food we ate there. And we happily feasted on our masterpiece as we picked out recipes for the next time Jonathan is home early enough for us to cook together. 

Here is the completed dish.  Delicious: