Notes From the Kitchen Table: No. 09
Once again I’m here to say that it’s been a very busy couple of weeks. Shocking, I know.
And we’re not even “yes” people. By that I mean that we don’t say yes to every opportunity that comes along. We say no to a lot of things because we value our down time, and even with that this feels like a very busy season of life. I can’t imagine what it’s like for those of you who don’t say no to a lot.
Are you “yes” people or “no” people?
This edition of the newsletter is mostly not at all about food and cooking, but a glimpse into some of the other stuff that goes on in my world.
Some of what’s in this week’s newsletter:
The high schoolers had a school break, we’re soaking up the last bits of warm weather, we’ve had some amazing astronomy viewing, a concert, a birthday, and I’ve been getting back to my knitting, crocheting, lots of reading, and maybe some hints of a season change finally. The one thing there hasn’t been a whole lot of is cooking. Of course there’s been some, but not a lot of new and some amount of winging it because I fell behind on planning. More about that further along in this newsletter.
It’s been an astronomically outstanding couple of weeks!
Sorry for the pun, I couldn’t resist. But I mean that literally in fact - we have been lucky enough to witness several amazing astronomical events in the last two weeks. One of the (many) great things about moving back to California is that we actually have clear skies most of the time, and we actually get a chance to see most of the cool events that happen in our night sky. Unlike when we lived in the gray Pacific Northwest and we almost always missed out on these things because it was cloudy. We’re out in the country here, away from most city lights, so we can get really great view of the night sky without a lot of light pollution.
In the past few weeks we have seen an aurora, a comet, a few meteors, and a super moon.
A season of change
We’re into the second half of October now and we are finally getting some of what feels like autumn weather. We’ve still had beautiful warm days, but we are starting to get those crisp clear nights and finally starting to see a few leaves change. The garden is just about finished, although there are lots of green tomatoes still on the vines. I did a bunch of cleanup this weekend, clearing out dead stuff, pruning things back, and I trimmed all the new growth off the tomato vines to try to encourage them to ripen what they’ve already got. We’ve put away all the pool toys and chairs and umbrellas, although we will still heat the pool for a few more days because we’ve got maybe a few last days of warm weather this week.
I look forward to the change of seasons. Not because I want to see the warm weather go, but because I like change. I know a lot of people don’t like change, but I do. I like closing a chapter and starting a new one. I enjoy putting the past behind me and focusing on the future, new challenges, new activities, new experiences. I see every change of seasons as an opportunity to start fresh on something. It’s a good time to do some seasonal housekeeping and clean things out - the closets, the freezer, the garden, the garage, the friends list (IYKYK).
The high school that three of my kids are at takes a week off in October. That was strange to me at first, but I’ve grown to really love it. Given the trend of our weather here, how summer like weather seems to last into mid-october, it seems the perfect timing for a break. It feels like a nice time to mark the end of the summer season and have a nice quiet pause before transitioning into a new season. The sweaters and hoodies have come out, Halloween costumes are well underway, the knitting is back out, and there are soups and stews and slow cooked things happening in the kitchen.
Something New
I’ve thought for a while about adding more of my non cooking related thoughts and favorite things, but it felt a bit too out of context. So I’ve started a separate section for all that good stuff. For now that content will live exclusively on Substack, so it’s another great reason to subscribe if you haven’t already. For the first issue I’ve focused on the books I’ve been reading. Hop on over to read that one and make sure you are subscribed. I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and I’d love to know what you’ve been reading too.
What’s happening on the blog?
No new recipes this time. I think I overdid it last time. My last newsletter had links to quite a few new posts and recipes. Sometimes the ideas just flow, and sometimes the brain needs to take a break. But if you missed that newsletter you should definitely check it out, or head over to my recipes page to see what’s new.
I do have a couple of new posts over on the lunch packing side of the blog though!
Since it’s Halloween season, I put together a quick post for you with all my super quick and easy ideas for how to pack a fun Halloween themed lunch. Click here to read that post now.
You may know that my kids are teenagers now. Packing lunch and making breakfast for busy high schoolers is a whole different kind of a thing. I’ve got a lot of simple things I do to make their mornings and school days a little easier and more nutritious. I’ve put my top 10 meal prep and lunch ideas for teen in a new blog post. Click here to read the new post now.
Social media updates
I’m trying to take a break from personal social media, especially during this election season. But I do still love using social media to share what I’m cooking and making and connect with other creators. I still have to do some housecleaning to keep those as drama free zones, but it’s a bit easier there.
Instagram is where I share our somewhat real time dinner updates - if I manage to snap a pic of the dinner before it’s devoured, IG is where you’ll find it. Here’s a favorite from last week of one of the easiest meals I make - teriyaki tofu. It looks like a fancy bowl but the cooking part of this doesn’t get any easier and my kids love it. You can find the teriyaki sauce recipe on the blog, it’s a great one to make extra to have in the fridge for an easy weeknight dinner.
I also recently made a big pot of chicken and dumplings - now that we’re getting a bit cooler weather I feel like these kinds of meals are starting to sound good again.
You can find me over on Threads too - this is where I like to have conversations about a wider variety of topics. I’m over there chatting about vacuum cleaners and knitting, some of that social media drama I mentioned, and often food too. For any of you who are knitters - I asked on threads the other day for suggestions for a first sweater knitting pattern and got lots of great suggestions. That’s a great thread to check out if you are a new-ish knitter looking for ideas or if you have a pattern suggestion to share.
How about meal planning?
Yeah, about that. I kinda took the last couple of weeks off. I mentioned the kids were on break, so I took a bit of a break too. My husband was away for a few days, and the kids and I took the opportunity to have some favorite easy comfort foods that don’t require planning.
My husband maybe doesn’t realize that I do most of my best and most interesting cooking for him. I have always said that food is my love language. When he is away I don’t cook nearly as creatively. My kids do eat most of what I cook, but teenagers don’t quite appreciate the time spent being creative in the kitchen as much as he does, so I don’t always feel like using the energy to do it when he isn’t home.
I don’t buy a ton of frozen convenience foods, but I do by some things that often get forgotten about and shoved to the back of the freezer, so a couple times a year it’s a good idea to clean out and organize the freezer and use up some of that stuff. The change of seasons feels like a good time to do this too. It’s nice to start a new season with plenty of space in the freezer, to get organized and have room for some of that holiday and storm season stocking up that needs to happen in the next couple of months.
So all that to say that we had a lot of easy stuff from the freezer the past week or two - lasagnas, nuggets and fish sticks, frozen burgers, and easy pastas with frozen meatballs. I’m getting back to my routines this week though, so look for more meal plans coming soon.
Here are some ideas that are on my list for the next couple of weeks. Make sure you are subscribed so you can get notified when I have shared these meals.
Japanese curry. I use this curry sauce or sometimes I make the sauce using curry powder from the same brand.
Lasagna with bolognese. This probably means we will have pasta with bolognese first, and I’ll make extra and make lasagna with it a few days later.
Okonomiyaki: this is a savory Japanese pancake with cabbage and I usually add fish. We might have it as a side with the Japanese curry, or I might make it a separate meal.
Loco Moco: Japanese / Hawaiian favorite, rice with a hamburger patty, gravy, and a fried egg. What’s not to love.
Shoyu Chicken: I read about this recently and now I want to try it. It’s also a Hawaiian dish. It sounds similar to teriyaki in flavors, but a different cooking method.
Now that I’ve listed these out I’ve noticed a theme - seems like I’ve got Japanese food on my mind. Or my kids do - several of these were requested by kids.
Ok but what has been cooking?
I’m not saying I haven’t cooked anything, just not as much as usual and mostly not planned very well in advance. Click on over to this post in my meal plan section to read more about what I’ve been cooking - there were a few really great meals.
That’s it for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed my updates!
Have a Question?
Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.
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Wishing you an easy week ahead!