The Meal Plan | 7.01.2015 | Peak Season

I'm not sure why exactly i stopped meal-planning.  I'd like to believe it wasn't complete laziness, exhaustion certainly played a hand.  "What's the point," was definitely muttered.  But mostly it was a fairly subconscious move and the slope was slippery.  For the first few weeks with my back turned toward this labor I could usually come up with an idea or two in the morning hours after a quick survey of the cupboards and icebox.  This worked well unless it didn't work well.  When I couldn't decide, time and energy together waning, I'd end up on the phone at the end of the day with a relative to steal her idea or inspiration.  Or I'd flip through a cookbook or scan the Internet at too late an hour, usually finding a recipe but without the appropriate ingredients or time.  The short-lived triumph when something would appear on the table still gave me a small amount of accomplishment.  But, there are nights when I'd like to be more thoughtful and I don't want to be bothered to think.  So, if I began my meal planning with a good amount of rigidity, I'd like to continue it with courage and diligence and adding a level of flexibility.  Because I do still believe it can help.  Of course, the hope is to make lighter the load, right?

We spent this past weekend enjoying the seacoast of Maine in the comfort of someone else's home.  It was so nice to prepare food in a different kitchen.  The old, wide hardwood floors was a nice contrast to checkered linoleum.  The large, weighty cutting block was a trade up from my plastic, onion-soaked cutting sheets.  When I was asked about the trip, I first recalled the food we ate, next the lupins and then everything else.  I know the memory of shelling lobsters and then making lobster rolls will stay with me.  Pardon me for being so idealistic, but I'd like to try to enjoy my own kitchen and it's dribbly faucet.  And I'd like to record the times I did enjoy it.  I certainly won't be getting fancy.  Enough is as good as a feast, as Mary Poppins reminded me.  I'm just picking back up -hitting restart in the season of stone fruits and tomato sandwiches.

Naomi in Maine on an anchor.

This week's menu:

Wednesday:  Real Simple's Mexican Chicken Soup.
Thursday:  !01 Cookbook's Lentil and Yogurt Salad with Basil
Friday: Homemade Pizza