Make Lemonade

The food image isn’t the best (it’s especially for you, Ryan) but, I didn’t plan on taking it.  I was hungry and I have no working light bulbs left in the fixture in the dining area.  I had one that still worked today, but I couldn’t see to cook because the kitchen light only had one good bulb left too so I sacrificed the dining room bulb to allow me to cook.  Unfortunately, the stronger light just let me see more clearly that in addition to light bulbs, I really need to buy some food one of these days.  I have enough Ramen Soup to last me for lunch for awhile, but not much in the way of real food.  I have enough eggs, cheese and minced ham left to make one more decent omelet, but after that I think I’m going to have to break down and visit the grocery.  I’m even out of peanut butter.

I love food and I love to cook, but I’ve been traveling a lot and was sick over the weekend and just haven’t felt up to the effort required to go around the corner to the store (yes, it’s really less that a half mile away).  So, I keep scrounging through the cabinets and freezer (the refrigerator has been down to six kinds of salad dressing and club soda for a few weeks).  I think I’ve pretty much reached the end of the scavenging, but as I looked in the cabinet and rearranged the can of pumpkin, jar of molasses and package of bread crumbs again, I pulled one more meal out of it.  I had a half package of penne and added a sauce of diced tomatoes, creamed corn, black olives and pesto and some grated parmesan.  As I began to eat the Penne Pesto Mashup that might have been a complete bomb, I was pleasantly surprised to realize it was really good!  Simple and flavorful.  Satisfying.

My son turned four today.  He’s been several states away from me for most of the summer, which has been very hard (ok, very very VERY hard), but, today was particularly difficult.  He was very excited, and I got to experience the day in a 15 second phone call that went like this, “Happy Birthday!”  “Thanks, Mom!  I LIKE being four!  I have to go to the bathroom, bye!”  As I ate the meal that came from the leftover ingredients orphaned in the back of my cabinet I realized that the meal I was enjoying needs to be a metaphor for my summer.  While I feel rather lost without my boy, I want to spend the next three weeks living a satisfying, full-of-flavor life fashioned from the ingredients I have on hand.  Well, maybe with a few additional light bulbs.