A Different Spring

 

Hi there. My first round of peonies are blooming and I am glad. We are having a warm week and they went from tight buds to fully open quickly.

This week the kids' school district announced that they were cutting back the school week by one day for the remainder of the school year. Aside from it changing some of the curriculum, which is unfortunate, not having online school on Fridays anymore is a welcome change. By Friday, I am really over trying to get them motivated for school. On our first no-school Friday we hauled lumber for a new fence that Vincent is building in the backyard (because the old one is literally falling apart) and cleaned the house. It must be a universal rule that within 24 hours of mopping the floors something must be spilled on them, right? Saturday the kids made ice cream in a bag and dripped salt water all over the kitchen. They dried the floor with a towel and now it has a white, salty sheen. At least they were busy and happy for a bit, right?

I'm still cooking a lot, like everyone else. It's so strange. Other than preparing lunch for everyone almost everyday, I probably am cooking the same amount as I was in the Before Times. It feels so different though. It's probably because it is unrelenting and there isn't a choice. Before, when I was planning out the week's meals, I would see what was on sale at my favorite grocery store and try to plan something delicious and nutritious. Now, my goal is to provide comfort and to work with what food we already have on hand and what I can order ahead and pick up at the farmer's market. We have eaten more homemade burgers in the time we've been home than we ever have. We bought a share of beef last summer from Kookoolan Farms, so the meat is readily available in our freezer, and a burger is one of my favorite comfort foods. I like to mix grated cheese into the meat instead of putting a slice of cheese on top. It's great to eat comforting foods, but I'm also starting to get tired of it. In a week and a half the CSA we signed up starts so hopefully that will inspire me again.

I made Alison Roman's famous Salted Shortbread Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They weren't my favorite. For me, the cookie wasn't sweet enough to balance out the bitterness of the chocolate. I had one that hardly had any chocolate in it and I really liked it. I could make them again with less chocolate, but really I'd rather make a different cookie altogether.