My wife has picked up a job and has been doing Door Dashing as well, and because of that her schedule has gotten really, really busy.

I’m very grateful for her stepping up to do this, especially because I’m solidly in a trough of despair at the moment. She’s bringing in much needed predictability while my business sorts itself out.

I’m a respectable cook, and the best way I could think to return the favor is to make darn sure that the family is fed, so I’ve just wholesale taken over the kitchen. Meal prep, dishes, grocery shopping, the whole gamut.

It’s getting me away from my desk, and has been giving me great opportunities to listen to audiobooks, and do something with my hands, so it’s a real win/win.

Bennett (my eldest) has a diet that, until very recently, has consisted of Mac & Cheese and chicken patties. (He doesn’t like cheese though. 🙄). Any parent who has a kid like this knows how frustrating that can be, and in my case I’ve basically resigned to making two different meals, or at minimum having a backup plan for when one of my kids inevitably wrinkle their nose at the prospective meal that was lovingly cooked for them.

Today is Kate’s day where she’s home in the evening, so I wanted to make sure to make something she liked, and when she was prompted during meal planning, she excitedly asked for a snow pea chicken teriyaki dish that we had earlier this year.

Needless to say, I had no intention of my children eating this meal, and had some tomato soup on standby for them. In fact, I was so confident that they wouldn’t want it, that I went ahead and made 2 servings instead of a double batch.

As the aroma of the garlic and snow peas filled the kitchen, Ben comes floating downstairs like a 1960s cartoon character after a pie. And in a turn of events that would make Edward Murphy say “well no shit”, Ben asks for one of the two servings. A request I happily fulfill, because I’ll be damned if I deny him a vegetable willingly eaten!

So, suddenly, I have no food for myself. Kate’s fed. Ben’s fed. And I’m left wanting the meal I just cooked for them.

So, I decide to cut my losses, accept that I made a bad bet, chop up more peas, and make myself a serving. About 80% of the way through the process I get a text from Kate “that was SO good! Is there seconds?!”

To which, I say “yep!” And give her half of the serving I made, and I take my half, and gobble it up before someone else asks me for more 😂.

I have no idea why I didn’t just make a double in the first place. There’s probably some kind of lesson here, but I’m too damn tired to think about it right now.

I guess Ben just turned 11, so it’s only a matter of time before his food intake quadruples overnight.

In the meantime, I have written on the recipe card “double the recipe or suffer”