A week of not really cooking
When your week goes off the rails, this is what real life looks like.
Just when you think you’re getting back into a routine….the kids are back home with a sore throat and sniffles.
Maybe it’s Covid, maybe it’s not (a faintly positive test for 1 kid, followed by only negative tests; the other kid has the same symptoms but only tests negative. Go figure!)
Childhood viruses have a knack for staggering the onset of symptoms so that just as one child is getting better, the next one falls ill. Everything you thought you were going to do or accomplish gets put on hold while a blurry week blows by.
Having older sick kids is infinitely easier than sick toddlers and preschoolers, but it still throws your week off the rails.
And yet, everyone still needs to eat.
Sick kids aren’t the only thing that can turn a week upside down. These sort of weeks happen all the time for a million different reasons.
I know, without a doubt, that some of you have had much harder weeks than I’ve had.
When I sat down to write this newsletter, I spent an hour or more trying to figure out what kind of advice and recipes to dole out. What would be most helpful? What was easiest to cook during an exhausting week?
Finally, I realized that I was struggling to come up with recipes to share because deep down I knew that when work and laundry and dishes are piling up, the last thing you need are recipes.
You need commiseration.
You need a friend to say, “Ugh. That sounds hard.”
You need to order in, or rely heavily on Trader Joe’s frozen food.
You need to let your kids have a smoothie for dinner, if that’s what they want.
You need to eat cheese and crackers for dinner, if that’s what you want.
You need a funny new TV show (try Bad Sisters, on Apple TV)
You need a photo tour of a house that is truly lived in and will make you smile
You need a refreshing beverage at the end of the day (try Golden Road Mango Cart Ale)
You need to read about a fictional family that is more dysfunctional than your own (try Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann)
I’m going to keep this newsletter short and sweet, for all the obvious reasons mentioned above. We’re heading into a long, hot Labor Day weekend here. Next week feels like it will be a fresh start. Autumn! Kids back to school! Routine! (fingers crossed)
xo
Jenny
P.S. If you do feel like cooking, all of my recipes can always be found on my blog, Kitchen Skip!