The world continues to move toward a “return to normal,” though I still hope we don’t just go back to the way things were. I believe some things will stick. We learned a lot, as we should, from the last 15 months. We’ve experienced fear, anger, grief, desperation, loneliness, and anxiety. But we’ve also experienced joy and happiness and love. At least I have. Despite us often being kept apart by Covid and distance, I feel closer to my family and those I consider family. I also made some really great new friends. So while I hope to be writing about how we no longer need the quarantining because everyone is vaccinated, I also plan to take some of those changes with me. Now, let’s talk about the food.
Thursday (5/20) – After a long day at work, I decided I was too tired to both cooking. This is kind of funny in that the planned meal was hotdogs. How hard is it to steam some hotdogs? But alas, I was that lazy. So instead, we ordered take-out from Pizza Art. It was delicious, and I have no regrets. Well, maybe I regret that I dropped the order on the way home, so it was a bit of a mess, but it still tasted delicious.
Friday (5/21) – We reheated the stuffed pasta shells and served with some Brussel sprouts. Not a major challenge, but it worked. I had planned pizza, but I got caught up in work and got dinner started late.
Saturday (5/22) – I made pita pizzas. For the kid, I did mozzarella, tomatoes and pesto. For the grown ups, we added spinach and feta stuffed chicken sausage slices. We also had a nice Caesar salad (from a bag, I’ve not tried making Caesar dressing yet). I did these in the oven instead of my usual grilling technique, but they were still very good.
Sunday (5/23) – Oh lord the food I ate this day. I started the day at brunch on the patio at Chief O’Neil’s. I am not a buffet person and obviously, my germaphobia is heightened after the last year, but their set up felt pretty safe, and a few mimosas helped. Prior to leaving for the brunch, I put a pork shoulder in the smoker. My lovely husband was nice enough to babysit it while I was gone. I picked up an 11lb shoulder from our local grocer and rubbed it with salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, onion powder, and brown sugar. We pulled it from the smoker around 6 pm and had a very lovely picnic-style dinner outside with the neighbors in our building. One of the neighbors brought sangria, a mushroom dish, and coleslaw, and the other brought fruit salad. Everything was delicious, though we had to pack it in right after eating because it started raining.
Monday (5/24) – We just had leftovers. I mentioned that pork was 11lbs, right? Even with sending both neighbors home with a bunch, we still had plenty of pork.
Tuesday (5/25) – You guessed it, Taco Tuesday! This week we just did regular tacos with soyrizo and black beans. We also picked up guacamole from the grocer. We had white corn or flour tortillas to choose from. I forgot how much I enjoy the corn tortillas. I forgot to take any pictures.
Wednesday (5/26) – For lunch, my lovely husband made us quesadillas using the leftover stuff from taco night. For dinner, I made the French Onion mac & cheese again. It’s become a real favorite around here. My upstairs neighbors also apparently loved it. Since I make so much when I make it, I took them up some.
Another week down, and I think we are still eating well. I’m working a lot more these days, so some of the meals are a little simpler. For example, I forgot how long that French onion mac & cheese takes to prepare, and we ate really late on Wednesday, so I have to remember to make that a weekend meal. But with summer here, I doubt I’ll be making a lot of dishes that heavy. Oh, summer, it’s time to break out cold soups and pasta salads. Let’s see if I can finally turn the kid around on the word “salad”.
Foodie's Delimma 