“If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat.” — Robert Morley
There will be minimal cooking this week (why is cooking for three is so much less stressful than four?). And much of what is cooked will be prepared by Noah, who won the highly competitive Snarky Teenager of the Year Award on Sunday. His prize package includes being head chef for the family at breakfast and dinner, with the bonus of being head dishwasher. He’s thrilled. Seriously.
All this on top of the fact that he actually is working this week. His middle school requires a week-long unpaid internship. So this week he’s working every day at TCBY. Getting up to make us breakfast, rushing to get the dishes done before heading off to work, coming home dog-tired only to have to make dinner and do dishes all over again. This sounds so familiar …
Here’s our week (which blessedly doesn’t seem to involve any rock climbing due to Noah’s work schedule):
Sunday: Dropped off Clyde at the airport and headed home for leftover night. Sawyer had leftover steak and roasted potatoes, I had leftover arroz con pollo, and Noah (post the standoff over the grilled cheese sandwich) had roasted potatoes and milk.
Monday: This morning, Noah made an impressive start to his culinary week by whipping up pancakes with bananas, blueberries, strawberries and/or blackberries (frozen fruit, of course; the only way to afford organic berries this time of year). Quite delicious and we had a good time cooking together. “See,” he says. “We wouldn’t be having these delicious pancakes if I hadn’t thrown away the grilled cheese.” Oh what a clever drama queen he is. He starts his TCBY gig so we’ll dine at the Subway next door. Single parenting can be so simple.
Tuesday: Noah continues to work; Sawyer goes back to school after a three-day weekend and has chess ’til 4:45 pm. A mad dash to get Noah at 5, then back home. The coconut-Thai breaded chicken breast looked too good to pass up at Whole Foods. On sale for $5.99 a pound, it would normally be too expensive for three of us. But for just Sawyer and me, well worth it. Noah is way into this fake meat at Whole Foods (“steak” with a vinegar plum sauce) so I’ll get that for him. Green beans and rice will go nicely with both.
Noah cutting up some Brussel sprouts while chatting on the phone
Wednesday: The boys have guitar tonight, which is just 30 minutes but means I’m not home for something that needs to be served immediately. I got some of North Bay Trading Co’s 32-bean and 8-vegetable soup in the bulk section of Whole Foods. I (I mean Noah) just puts one part soup mix to eight parts water, adds in some whole tomatoes, simmers for a few hours and it’s done. Says it’s best to make it the night before so we’ll make it Tuesday night, which works better with his work schedule anyway. Think I’ll have him make two pots, one with a little bacon for the carnivores. UPDATE: The boys and I thought this soup was pretty bland (especially the vegetarian version; bacon makes anything eatable).
Thursday: If the beans are a success, we’ll have those again. Why complicate things? I’ll add some ciabatta to keep things interesting.
Friday: Clyde comes home so we’ll likely grab a quick dinner on the way home from the airport. The three of us will have breakfast together (Noah makes a mean omelet) just in case his flight is delayed.
Saturday: We’ll have extra boys so need something good for the masses. We just did tacos when we recently had extra kids, and it worked. Why mess with success?
There was a Snarky Teenager contest??? and I didn’t get to enter Callie?? She would have won for sure. She may not have grilled cheese disposal on her resume, but her eye rolling is world class.
Noah had the contest sewed up early on so they didn’t even invite other competitors. Maybe next time. Let’s hope Callie doesn’t hear about the crumbled grilled cheese and add it to her repertoire! And thanks for your post about our last battle with Noah. Good things to think about. And I’ll definitely call you over the next time I have a delicious breakfast he doesn’t eat! My talents are so wasted on him.