I now think of it not as a choice but as a chore—and that’s been oddly freeing. I no longer fret over what fabulous recipe I’ll make. I remind myself that I do all kinds of things that aren’t fun in the name of living a reasonably mature life, and then I cook something from scratch, just like the Mark Bittmans, Michael Pollans, and Alice Waterses of the world suggest.
I find it greatly exaggerated. Maybe it comes from how she grew up? For all my childhood, we almost never went to restaurants. Maybe once in 6 months like the shopping day before getting back to school (and then not even a fancy thing). From that I know that if you want to eat something you'll have to make it by yourself. When I started working years ago, I remember having friends at home "oh my, you cook!" to what I answered "well, I'm hungry". At some point I started having more money and eating out once or twice a week cause it was fun and I could swap the time in the kitchen against time answering blackberry (yay!). Those days are gone now and eating at a restaurant is currently about once in a month. I.e. I/we cook every day and night and that's fun, even if sometimes it looks all the same...