365
X
28
Equals
10220
I've been making dinner
for
TEN THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED and TWENTY DAYS.
For the sake of argument,
let's delete some dinners
on account of giving birth to seven yahoos,
Pizza nights,
nights I've been at work
and
cereal nights....
so let's just push the TOTAL
down to
TEN THOUSAND DAYS.
...hold on a sec
while I let this number
resonate...
you know
wrap my head around the fact
that I've cooked
10,000 meals
for a humongous family...
why is it I feel light-headed all of a sudden?
That's not even including breakfasts or lunches.
Man Oh Man,
Sweet Mother of Troy,
that is alot of days
to do anything!
I could've gotten a degree in
something
spectacular by now!
At least, as a Chef!
No-freakin-kiddin!
I kinda feel like crying a little bit.
So why bring this up now?
After 10 thousand days??
Well yesterday a neighbor stopped by
just as we sat down for dinner
to drop something off.
I thank her for having Ari over for
dinner the previous night,
I said, "Arianna loved your lamb burgers last night.
Where do you get ground lamb?"
She answered,
"Oh I got it at King Soopers. Super easy to make. Everyone liked it.
I can get you the recipe if you'd like.
I make something new for dinner
every day of the year.
In fact, we haven't had the same meal
twice ever."
I was in awe,
speechless.
"How do you do that?" I asked.
"Oh I have tons of cookbooks,
and we just decided that we get bored
if we eat the same things over n' over,
so I make something different every night."
We finished up our conversation,
but it really started the wheels going
in my noggin.
How does one cook something different
every
single
day?
I have lots of cookbooks--
my family tries all kinds of stuff;
one of our most favorite nights
is Sushi Night.
We make authentic Italian Lasagna with a Bechamel sauce,
on special occasions.
We love tandoori chicken,
grilled salmon,
shrimp scampi,
mac-n-cheese is very much alive n well
at Momza's House!
Thoughts about Food
continued through this afternoon,
and then I asked Dani what she thought
about the whole 365 different meals...
and this is what we came up with:
Many of our food choices
are enmeshed in our family traditions.
We're emotional eaters, I guess.
Special Occasions like Christmas
are celebrated with family favorites
like
my Chocolate Trifle
Bechamel Lasagna
stuffed mushrooms
crab legs and tri-tip steaks.
Birthday meals are almost always
the birthday person's favorite--
depending on who it is
it can be Papa John's Pizza
to
Chicken Fettucine Alfredo...
you get me?
We're Foodies.
But we're emotional foodies.
We find a dish,
like the Mango Chicken Salad
for instance,
and there are requests to have that
several times a month.
Sushi Nights gives us all a chance
to break out the chopsticks and wasabi bowls.
And on and on.
A different dish every night
sounds exotic and clever to me,
truly;
YET,
when I serve up a family favorite,
there's nothing I love hearing more than,
"Oh, My Favorite!"
What about you and your family?
Is food a journey, a necessity, traditions or somewhere in between??
What's a family favorite in your house??
I'd say food is between a nesessity and traditions in our house. There are plenty of nights that I just make something easy. But we have plenty of traditions around certain foods, and I too am emotional about foods. I make certain dishes just to hear my very picky 8 year old say, "YUMMM! My favorite!" And I now have to have your recipe for Bechamel lasagna! Pretty please with whipped cream on top? Or sushi? Whichever fits your mood right now? :)
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog over the weekend and before I comment on this post, I need to say "Yay for someone who has older kids and will write about it!"
ReplyDeleteNow: I am so with you...meal time is all about tradition and memories and yumminess. No one at my house would be happy if they only got to eat their favorite thing once a year!
I have a tons of cookbooks and cooking magazines and I love to cook as does my husband and many of my children. We definately LOVE food around here but like your family we have our definate favorites!
ReplyDeleteDepending on what's going on we have night where meals need to be quick and there are other nights where there is time to cook a whole meal. I usually try new things several times a month and we vote whether it is a keeper or not.
I think the stress of not having the same meal twice would do me in, not to mention we would all miss our faves!
I was just contemplating blogging about how I've done so very little cooking this summer. But I'm with you, I am all about the traditions and emotions tied to food. Just thinking of cooking something new every day makes me tired.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much for experimenting in the kitchen, my family all has their favorites and never seems to get tired of them. But every once in a while we do find a NEW favorite.
ReplyDeleteKristin
Some of our "requests" include Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice, ham/vegetable chower, 'stuff'(fried potatoes with ground sausage and eggs all mixed together in a skillet and then sausage gravy over it all, which we make for both breakfast or dinner), and meatloaf,(no that is not a typo, they really like meat loaf). One of the most requested salads is Cabbage Chicken Salad...yummmmmm! Oh ya, cinnamon rolls are probably the number one most requested recipe, we all have sweet tooths.
ReplyDelete@Connie: love your "requests"!! homemade meals are so full of memories, hunh?
ReplyDelete@Kristin:Sounds much like ours...when we find a new favorite it's a keeper!
@Amy: Amen!!
@Cherie: I hear you--some nights we have "scavenger night"--all the leftovers come out.
@Sally: thanks for coming by! Welcome! And yeah, I have a housefull of teenagers--trying to share what I've figured out, or what I'm figuring out along the way is all out there!
@I will give you the link to the Bechamel lasagna:http://momza.blogspot.com/2008/12/two-easy-recipes-for-new-years.html
I LIKE eating the same stuff! It's comforting to eat what you're used to I think. My fav is making my mom's lasagne. I have it down to where it tastes like she made it now. New stuff is ok, and sometimes makes it into the do-over favorites, but I don't think I'd like the 365 days of no repeats.
ReplyDelete