A lot of people have been doing a lot of crazy things since self-distancing began. From the looks of my social media feed, TikTok is the killer of boredom, or the result, I’m not sure, but since I only see TikTok from other social media accounts, I’ve had to find my own ways of finding sanity. At first I was making ridiculous lists and not accomplishing anything, so then I threw out the list completely and that was much worse. I need structure and I’m just not getting it right now because this is not normal and because my kids are in my face at all times. Parents spend hours, days, and years creating structure for our kids because structure is good and in return they steal every last bit of structure we need for ourselves. And yet, we would gladly let them pull our own scaffolding out from under us because we feel guilty for yelling at them about daydreaming instead of completing the paragraph assignment you handed him or her for crisis school 30 minutes ago. UGH! Now I’m just trying to find the easy things I can accomplish that are useful. That’s my step back to sanity. I’m focusing on things that I can do and do them well. Surprisingly, that thing for me has turned out to be cooking. I actually hate cooking! Well, at least I normally do. If I were a millionaire, I would never cook again. The local restaurants could just put my order in every day at 5:00 P.M. Monday - Big Easy Pasta from Emmet’s Tuesday - Enchilada Supreme and a Chile Relleno from Dos Primos Wednesday - A large pizza from Muddy Mo (A different topping every week but no green peppers. I might even just order a plain crust because I’m not sure I’ve had better crust anywhere.) Thursday - Grilled Chicken Pita and Sweet Potato Fries from Beckett’s Friday - Loaded Grilled Cheese Burger and a side of fried pickles from Miknan’s Saturday - BBQ Nachos from Damron’s BBQ Sunday - Back to Dos Primos for a light dinner of chips and salsa and a jumbo mango margarita. Obviously I have thought about this a lot. Sadly, I am not a millionaire and I must make dinner every stinkin’ night. I used to rely on large recipes, casseroles, and doubling ingredients, but that no longer works. With two growing boys and two gluttonous adults, the leftover dinners are becoming more and more scarce. Not because there’s not enough for leftovers, but because we treat dinner like a competition on who gets the last serving. During self-distancing though, making dinner has become a little less stressful. I have more time and more ingredients because I just grab one of everything to get in and out of the store before my mask drives me nuts and the rebel no-mask shopper who wants to hang right on top of me during the whole trip gets germ-xed in the face. Most importantly though, cooking is a task I can complete, and that’s a glorious feeling. With so many other things just not working out, things I have no control over, it feels good to make a plan and complete it. These are my top three foods during the pandemic:
I may very well go back to hating cooking when this is all over. I know I will, but for now, it is a sense of glorious completion that I need. Also, the COVID-19 (as in pounds) are here to prove it. Hence the picture I posted the other day during a run. I’m trying to manage it with sweat and tears. I hope you all find something joyously comparable to survive these crazy days. |
AuthorThis is my therapeutic release for all the things that annoy me about living on a farm. If I can make it humorous, I can survive it. |