I must say when my friend Hedy suggested we take our husbands to a cooking party for Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks, I was not sure if it was a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of appealing things about it.

I love Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks. They are the mostly local and organic veggie selection I get every other week and blog about cooking up. They keep me on my toes, alleviating me from the cooking doldrums. Otherwise I might fall into the trap of cooking up the same three meals every week.

I also love cooking. But cooking is something I do all the time. All the time. Three meals a day for between 3 to 6 people, seven days a week. We do often eat out on the weekends, but never THREE meals a day. I also love my kids but if someone asked me to get a sitter for my own kids to hang out with other kids my answer would be NO THANK YOU.

Finally, I love the Smiths. They are one of those cool couples that fit into a rare category for us. I like the wife. Adam likes the husband. They have a kid the same age as one of ours.

After weighing all the positive and negatives, we said yes and pushed the send button on the email.

And I’m glad we did.

Salmon Salad on Crostini

Because taking some time away from the kids to hang out with friends and your husband is a lot of fun.

Cooking with Irv from Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks.

Hedy and I

And cooking without two two year olds pulling on each leg asking to be picked up AND with a glass of wine is a whole ‘nother kind of experience.

And so often Adam and I get into a rut where we never do anything that doesn’t revolve around the kids and once we are pulled out of it, we realize that we need to do it more often.

And we learned to cook samosas!