Hunger Can Drive a Man to Cook
Mamie is gone visiting her sister in Connecticut and things have gone to pot here.
On Tuesday, Mamie and Lucy left for Connecticut. As she was preparing to leave a *slightly* untidy house, I winked at her and said: "don't worry Mamie, most of these dished will be probably be done by the time that you get back." She was not comforted.
For the first few days, I reveled by shifting my work schedule later in the day, sleeping late, going to bed late, blissfully and randomly draping my dirty cloths wherever I wanted in the house, leaving cabinets and drawers open at will, and creatively managing to eat without doing the dishes (I usually did have to wash a spoon.) Last night I rented a movie that Mamie would never had sat through if I were to get it while she was here: "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and reveled as I watched the movie and ALL of the special features until early in the morning.
Today, The party ended. I ran out of milk for my cold cereal. I used the last surface that could sanitarily be used for eating food off of. I had no clean cloths. After I had been out for hours this morning getting the oil changed and going to the park to read, I realized (while talking to the mechanic) that the shirt that I had felt so slick in was on inside out. I came home and finished the last of the milk in a tiny bowl of cold cereal. I forced down another granola bar (I have had 50 of them this week.) I even considered eating plain cheerios without milk. And other than that, I was hungry.
My light at the end of the hunger tunnel was the church dinner tonight. I anxiously did the dishes and laundry while I waited until 6:30 so that I could go and eat from a smorgasbord of food that other people had made. Even though I wanted to survive without food until then, I couldn't. I had to have something. I opened a can of corn, dumped it into a bowl, and scarfed it down after microwaving it. Then, at about 6, I laid down on the couch to relax for just a minute from my labors until it was time to get my cloths on and go to a real dinner.
Enter 10:30 PM. I groggily wake up on the couch in shock at the black sky outside of the window. Where had all the time gone? How had I slept so long while being so hungry? I lay there in groggy despair as I contemplated the gravity of my situation. Mentally I walked to the store and thought of what I could buy there that would satisfy my hunger, be healthy, easy to make, and appetizing. I thought of just buying a box of soy milk and drinking the whole thing. That would only cost $1.50, and I probably wouldn't be hungry afterwards... I couldn’t really think of anything. Then I imagined our cabinets and fridge, trying to think of something that I could have. Finally, I came to the stark realization: I would have to cook.
It wasn't easy, but we had a garden burger in the freezer and a bag of lentils on our shelf. I did what I had to do: Fry up the burger and put on as many things that could pass as fix-ins (tofu, pickles, ketchup, mayo, a fried egg, mustard.) I boiled the lentils with chicken bullion, onions, crushed garlic, and thyme. By the time that it was all done, I think that my stomach must have shrunk for lack of food. I wasn't even all the way through my burger when I started to feel full. Nevertheless, I had made this food, and I was going to eat it.
It is now midnight, and I am satisfied and happy. There is a half a pot of lentils on the stove (I should probably put that in the fridge or something before I go to bed.) The Lentils could be my source of nutrition tomorrow, I guess, unless someone invites me to dinner (Kelsey and Bill, are you reading this?) Now, the dishes are clean, the cloths are washed, the house is picked up (sortof) and I am happy. If Mamie doesn't read this post, she might even think when she comes home on Wednesday that things went smoothly here while she was gone. Now the only thing that I am struggling with is contemplating the fact that on the Saturday that my wife and child were gone I did nothing but hang out around the house in my underwear cleaning and sleeping while listening to podcasts about the nature of the universe. What does that mean about who I am?
On Tuesday, Mamie and Lucy left for Connecticut. As she was preparing to leave a *slightly* untidy house, I winked at her and said: "don't worry Mamie, most of these dished will be probably be done by the time that you get back." She was not comforted.
For the first few days, I reveled by shifting my work schedule later in the day, sleeping late, going to bed late, blissfully and randomly draping my dirty cloths wherever I wanted in the house, leaving cabinets and drawers open at will, and creatively managing to eat without doing the dishes (I usually did have to wash a spoon.) Last night I rented a movie that Mamie would never had sat through if I were to get it while she was here: "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and reveled as I watched the movie and ALL of the special features until early in the morning.
Today, The party ended. I ran out of milk for my cold cereal. I used the last surface that could sanitarily be used for eating food off of. I had no clean cloths. After I had been out for hours this morning getting the oil changed and going to the park to read, I realized (while talking to the mechanic) that the shirt that I had felt so slick in was on inside out. I came home and finished the last of the milk in a tiny bowl of cold cereal. I forced down another granola bar (I have had 50 of them this week.) I even considered eating plain cheerios without milk. And other than that, I was hungry.
My light at the end of the hunger tunnel was the church dinner tonight. I anxiously did the dishes and laundry while I waited until 6:30 so that I could go and eat from a smorgasbord of food that other people had made. Even though I wanted to survive without food until then, I couldn't. I had to have something. I opened a can of corn, dumped it into a bowl, and scarfed it down after microwaving it. Then, at about 6, I laid down on the couch to relax for just a minute from my labors until it was time to get my cloths on and go to a real dinner.
Enter 10:30 PM. I groggily wake up on the couch in shock at the black sky outside of the window. Where had all the time gone? How had I slept so long while being so hungry? I lay there in groggy despair as I contemplated the gravity of my situation. Mentally I walked to the store and thought of what I could buy there that would satisfy my hunger, be healthy, easy to make, and appetizing. I thought of just buying a box of soy milk and drinking the whole thing. That would only cost $1.50, and I probably wouldn't be hungry afterwards... I couldn’t really think of anything. Then I imagined our cabinets and fridge, trying to think of something that I could have. Finally, I came to the stark realization: I would have to cook.
It wasn't easy, but we had a garden burger in the freezer and a bag of lentils on our shelf. I did what I had to do: Fry up the burger and put on as many things that could pass as fix-ins (tofu, pickles, ketchup, mayo, a fried egg, mustard.) I boiled the lentils with chicken bullion, onions, crushed garlic, and thyme. By the time that it was all done, I think that my stomach must have shrunk for lack of food. I wasn't even all the way through my burger when I started to feel full. Nevertheless, I had made this food, and I was going to eat it.
It is now midnight, and I am satisfied and happy. There is a half a pot of lentils on the stove (I should probably put that in the fridge or something before I go to bed.) The Lentils could be my source of nutrition tomorrow, I guess, unless someone invites me to dinner (Kelsey and Bill, are you reading this?) Now, the dishes are clean, the cloths are washed, the house is picked up (sortof) and I am happy. If Mamie doesn't read this post, she might even think when she comes home on Wednesday that things went smoothly here while she was gone. Now the only thing that I am struggling with is contemplating the fact that on the Saturday that my wife and child were gone I did nothing but hang out around the house in my underwear cleaning and sleeping while listening to podcasts about the nature of the universe. What does that mean about who I am?
posted by John at
6/02/2007 11:45:00 PM
6 Comments:
Good thing I decided to check blogs today! Come over. We have plenty of milk and cereal.
your saturday sounds a lot like my life.
HIlarious JOhnny, sounds like the start of a great screenplay to a movie I'd never want to see,
but would be wildly successful
That was pretty funny! But I hope Mamie never leaves you again!
That sounds a lot like my kitchen...and I'm a stay at home mom. Is that a bad sign?
Kelsey, I'm on my way.
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