Apparently there is a chicken tender shortage?????
Okay, maybe there is, maybe there isn’t; I asked All Knowing Google and got three headlines of varying levels of certainty:
Article 1: Is a chicken tender shortage underway?
Article 2: US could experience a chicken tender shortage
Article 3: The US is now facing a chicken tender shortage
Time will tell.
Carla, in typical Carla fashion, won’t eat chicken tenders, instead preferring her chicken in nugget form or shaped into dinosaur-adjacent shapelets. But how can the chicken tender shortage not have a domino effect? Well, perhaps this is the ideal time to wean her off of chicken nuggets for good!
And things are looking up, in other parts of the freezer section. I got my hands on some frozen pancakes this week: some of the mini pancakes at Target and some regular Eggo buttermilk pancakes at my normal grocery store.
I guess sometimes the good lord taketh away and sometimes the good lord giveth.
Carla is now FULLY VACCINATED against Covid 19! And the flu, but that’s less exciting. No less important, though.
She had a low fever the day after her vaccine, and complained of arm pain and a headache for most of the day. She also seemed a little more subdued than usual. But the next day, she was back to normal, aside from some lingering arm pain.
I AM SO RELIEVED OMG.
It’s not like we’re all going to go out and stick our faces into the mouths of strangers or anything (I am picturing those old-timey lion tamers who stick their heads into the jaws of the beast). But I do feel like maybe we can RELAX a little. I mean, we will continue to wear masks, we will continue to social distance. And I can’t imagine that we’ll be attending packed-house concerts or sporting events. I do think I will unclench a little bit? That sounds nice. And maybe we will explore some of the avenues that we’ve considered mostly-closed for the past eighteen months – travel, restaurants, birthday parties, indoor playdates/dinner parties? I suspect we will move very slowly.
Although…
My husband and I are – possibly – going to eat dinner in An Actual Restaurant for our anniversary this week. We have childcare (Carla will be at a birthday party, full of masked, mostly-vaccinated children she already sees every day at school). We have a reservation. We are both tentatively committed, which is an oxymoron. Tentatively committed to keeping the reservation, not to one another. I mean, one hopes. But despite all these baby steps, we are both VERY NERVOUS at the idea of eating inside a restaurant. Even my husband’s enduring desire for a real steak (as in a steak that I haven’t prepared at home) hasn’t pushed him over the fulcrum of the Should We Eat in a Restaurant teeter totter.
We have eaten AT restaurants since March 2020. Three, to be exact. Each time, we ate outside. Each time, we were the only people eating outside. Each time, somehow, it rained. Each time, the wait staff seemed totally unperturbed; each time, I assume, the wait staff talked about “the whack jobs at table four” when they were safe and warm and dry inside.
Anyway, we may decide at the last minute to get takeout instead. We shall see. I, for one, am not opposed to eating steak from the cozy if cramped safety of my car, although perhaps we will need to import our own steak knives for the experience. My husband is less enthused at the prospect. But I don’t think anything says “thirteen years of marriage” like scarfing down fancy steakhouse food between the gear shift and the automatic window buttons while your kid is attending a birthday party.
Let’s come up with some food to eat on the other, less fraught days, shall we?
Dinners for the Week of December 6-December 13
- Mediterranean Sheet Pan Cod with Zucchini: This calls for cherry tomatoes, which I may add if I’m feeling generous. It also calls for kalamata olives, which I may subtract because my husband hates them. We shall see.
- Chicken Tikka Masala: I can’t remember if I’ve tried this recipe before, but it sounds yummy. I will add some sliced bell peppers.
- Thai Chicken Quinoa Bowls: TSomething about this just sounds good right now – the ingredients make it almost summery, maybe? A good change from the fall/winter fare.
- Ginger Salmon Salad: We have had this once before and I remember it was refreshingly different. I also think it was one of the rare salmon recipes that my husband liked.
- Slow Cooker Short Ribs with Mascarpone Polenta: You guys. I am so embarrassed that I STILL haven’t made the short ribs that are hanging out in my freezer. WHAT is wrong with me?!?! (I know exactly what is wrong, and it is that I don’t want to sear the short ribs before putting them in the slow cooker.)
- Maybe a Restaurant?
- Takeout or DIY: My family prefer to call “fend for yourselves” nights “scrounging.” But that sounds a little scrappier than what actually goes on.
What are you looking forward to this week, food-wise or otherwise?
I’m headed to the grocery store – now – to pick up ingredients for a Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I make loads of chicken soups…but never with wild rice and mushrooms. It sounds delicious. Time will tell.
It also sounds like something that will make for delicious leftovers…and I LOVE leftovers.
Wish me luck…
Ooooh I have a chicken and wild rice soup I love – I hope yours is everything you hope for!
It was good…but was missing a pretty critical ingredient. They were out of wild rice at the grocery store. Whomp whomp. I went ahead with my plans and substituted jasmine rice I had on hand at home, but I do think it would have been slightly elevated by wild rice…considering that is 50% of the recipe title…
My mother and I call that kind of night “foraging” for dinner: looking around for whatever we can find.
Congrats on Carla’s vaxxedness!
Foraging leaves a much more pleasant impression than scrounging!
Yay, Carla! Happy vaccine day!!!
We ate inside one restaurant during the roarin’ twenties that was that nice few weeks in July. It was weird and also nice. Maybe we will do it again some time.
I don’t miss it as much as I thought I would, tbh.
Ha! – you will when you’re sploshing béarnaise over the handbrake! 😉🤣
LOL. Touche, Sally, touche.
We bought tickets to an event at the symphony last weekend in May. In May, we were pretty sure we’d feel comfortable going by December. We were wrong and we didn’t go and I’m sad that my “re-entry” into the world is so slow. Meanwhile, I’m watching other people travel, go to concerts, and just live lives, and I wonder if I’m doing it all wrong.
So. I wish you luck in your restaurant going decision. I wish you luck in continuing to get chicken nuggets and frozen pancakes. May we all get through this with our ability to engage in small talk and sit elbow to elbow with strangers at the symphony intact!
I share that feeling of “what am I doing wrong?” But it also doesn’t *really* feel like I’m missing a lot?
Our term for a scrounged supper is YOYO: you’re on your own.
Love it.
I am working to clean out the basement freezer so we can thaw that appliance. We have high hopes that a good thaw will get it back to working after ruining my Thanksgiving turkey. Yes, I’m glad I’m not to blame. So, we are eating meat that I’ve stuck in the freezer and then forgotten about – or in some cases, just throwing that meat away. Nothing exciting meal-wise here, I’m making barbeque pork in the crock pot tonight. I am thawing Italian Beef for later in the week. I made a ton of food so the kids didn’t starve when we were out of town, so other nights will be leftovers.
I am excited to be hosting the Christmas party for my college alumnae group tomorrow night. I’m also excited that Tank will come home tomorrow night. I’m sure he will be thrilled with the leftover food from the party, as I’m sure we will have much more than we need. Enter college kid and the world is a happy, food-filled place.
Hooray for Carla’s vax and here’s hoping you get to eat in a restaurant like normal times for your anniversary.
Yay for being fully immunized!
I hope you’ll be able to celebrate your anniversary at a restaurant.
I created a salmon rice concoction the other night based on a TikTok recipe. It was divine.
Favorite parts: “I do think I will unclench a little bit? That sounds nice.” “I don’t think anything says ‘thirteen years of marriage’ like scarfing down fancy steakhouse food between the gear shift and the automatic window buttons while your kid is attending a birthday party.” And of course another favorite part: CARLA BEING VACCINATED.
I too feel really weird as we carefully approach each individual decision and its risks and so forth, and meanwhile other people are posting videos of themselves at crowded screaming indoor unmasked concerts. Sometimes I wonder if I am in fact now in my dotage, merely REMEMBERING my younger years as I sit in my chair at the nursing home, gazing out the window without really seeing, and all of this is just some sort of dementia dream, because WHAT ELSE COULD EXPLAIN IT???
HOORAY for Carla’s fully vaccinated status!! And happy anniversary! Two giant and exciting events in one week.
Even being boosted, we are still pretty much in quasi-lockdown. Every time we start to feel hopeful either there’s a surge or a new variant. But like you, Swistle and Dominique100 – I’m looking around thinking “Are we being too cautious? Because look at this one going to Cabo and this one doing this…” And then I find that a co-worker who is on a business trip that was NOT strictly necessary has been exposed to COVID. She is testing daily prior to her return and fingers are crossed she doesn’t get it – because otherwise, I believe she will be stuck there for a while. Then I think, “Nope, we are not being too cautious.”
Oooh, a restaurant! I haven’t eaten at one of those since Feb 2020, and I am due to have a “breakfast date” with my friend for her birthday in ten days. We have always taken each other out for our birthdays, but of course haven’t since the pandemic. Now, proof of vaccination is required in all restaurants, so theoretically it should be fine. I AM NOT FINE. I am really worried about it. But when am I NOT going to be worried about it? For the commenter above, my husband booked us trips to Mexico in March 2022, when he booked – after we were getting vaxxed, in April or May of this year – we figured it would be no problem. IT DOES NOT FEEL LIKE NO PROBLEM. Time will tell, etc.
IS there a chicken tender shortage? I’ll have to look and see if we are having one. I’m going shopping this morning. I forgot to tell you! I looked in my frozen food section and saw, among the many frozen waffles, one box of store brand mini-frozen-pancakes, and I took a photo to show you, and then forgot!
One box! That sounds exactly like the situation here — drips and drabs of pancakes! I am very eager to hear about your restaurant experience, should it occur.
Yay for Carla being vaccinated! What a relief.
I do hope you are able to go to a restaurant for your anniversary. What a wonderful way to celebrate getting through these past two years! But I understand the hesitation – do what feels right for you!