being a helpmate

Tonight Darling Husband left for work at 9pm and won't return until after dawn tomorrow, maybe not even before I leave to take Baby Girl to daycare. This very unusual occurrence has really thrown off my week! (okay, maybe I won't blame the whole week on this, but definitely my day).

When he first mentioned it, it invoked for me images of coal miners, perhaps because it involves him visiting a manufacturing facility. I don't know why, exactly, but I fixated on him taking his lunch break at 3 in the morning, or whatever. I've had those nights where you can't figure out which way is up, where you're doing lots of busy things at unusual times. They can be kinda fun, but there's always this point where your body thinks it's time for a meal, even though you're certainly not used to eating at that time. But what meal is it?

Darling Husband slept all morning, then took an evening nap to prepare. We made spaghetti quickly for dinner, with jarred sauce. I felt funny, since I was making a second dinner and some snacks for him for later.

So what does he have in his lunch pail? (okay, soft sided cooler...) I decided to allow myself to get carried away with the coal miner image, and I packed him meat pasties, corn chowder, grapes and peanutbutter cookies. Oh, and a big thermos of coffee.

I've never made corn chowder, but I improvised as I went along. I made a quick roux with a bit of butter and flour, then added chicken broth slowly. To that I added a little half and half and some corn meal. Then I popped open a can of corn and one of green chilies and drained both, then added. A pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, and the soup was done. I snipped in some chives at the end for color and freshness. It's pretty good!

Meat pasties are traditional miner food, so what could be better? I made mine with diced potato (purple and russet, because that's what we had) and onion, with sage sausage. I baked it inside pie crust to make lovely little packets of fortifying goodness. Hope he enjoys it!

I haven't much felt like posting lately... remember the title of the blog? I'm really feeling that. I feel like our dinners have been a bit haphazard, a bit uninspired, or just not especially noteworthy. I'm trying to shake that self-censorious feeling and just let it be. For example, last night we made double decker tacos, where we coated the outside of a crunchy taco shell with refried beans and wrapped it in a flour tortilla. They are extremely hearty, and probably awful for you, but they keep the taco from self-destructing when you bite into it and, darn it, they're tasty. Maybe not highbrow, but so what?

Besides all that, I haven't managed to get to bed at a reasonable time in a while. My daughter and I are both reveling in the sunshine, too busy to rest or observe silliness like bedtime. It's exciting when summer comes; I'm sure I'll get used to it soon. Meanwhile I'm glutting myself on hobbies and crafts and projects, neglecting my more routine interests. You should see the quilt I'm hand-sewing...

Apparently in Alaska and such places where it stays light 24 hours a day people go through a kind of mania, not sleeping for days and days... it does eventually even out. :o)