Occasionally, I feel the need to have some good, ol' down home, southern cooking. I have been planning to make jambalaya for nearly 2 weeks and finally got it all together last night, but it wasn't quite ready in time to eat it so I let it simmer and stew most of the night and then half of the day today. Thank goodness, because if I had had to do dinner from scratch today, I probably would've made sammiches. It wasn't a bad day, just a long, everything-caught-up-with-me-today day. I actually had a really easy sub day with a great group of gifted 6th and 8th graders, but was still super tired by the time I came home. The smell of the jambalaya made me wish it was a chilly, gray fall evening instead of a warm, indian summer one, but it was still nice. As tired as I was, I tried, halfheartedly, to nap for 30 minutes or so just to recharge, but with 4 kids home and no husband to divert their attention from me, the catnap got postponed.
I mentioned before that I love fresh, local produce and got really happy when I found okra at the farmer's market here. Now, I'll be honest, I haven't made fried okra in a long time, and was kind of procrastinating making it because i didn't want to mess it up. I figured it would go well with the stew and some warm, sweet cornbread.
So what did I do different today? I didn't try to do it all myself, which is my normal modus operandi. I called my lazybones daughter from the living room and had her prep, season, bread and fry the okra. I must say, she did a fair job! It was really nice having her in the kitchen, not just to help take some of the work, but just having her around. I am not quite sure why, but there's been a long time that I haven't known how to be around my kids unless I am yelling at them. That's not fair to anyone, no matter how obnoxious they can be. Overall, my kids are amazing, especially Jess. She most definitely has her moments on annoying 13 yr old girl-ness, but she's really grown up a lot the past few years, and is pretty amazing...including all her weirdness, because that's who she is. Honestly, anyone that knew me at or around her age will understand how I really can't say anything much about her being an oddball. That apple certainly didn't fall from from the tree.
So, my take from today? Every now and then, eat comfort food, even if it is fattening as all get out, take a few minutes to just enjoy the kiddos, even when things are difficult...and Let Go, just...not hold on so tight that things slip through my fingers. Love totally, even when its hard to see past the frustrations.
Now to see whether or not I can keep it up without it wearing me down, considering how different it is from my normal state of mind the last few years.
