It seems impossible, and yet this is pretty much the last week in May. School is nearly done. Camp is on the horizon. My parents’ move is imminent. All sorts of good things – and yet instead of happy and light, I am feeling scattered and overwhelmed.
A lot of this is due to the fact that May has been cram-jammed with social events. In the last week alone I have attended: THREE school concerts, a playdate, a skating party, a birthday dinner, and a school event. Plus I went out to an impromptu lunch with a newish friend. Plus I got my hair cut and colored, which is wonderful but also involves more than an hour of chatting. Even chatting with my very lovely and hilarious hair stylist is exhausting. Plus it was a call week.
Up next, I have: a parents association event, my twentieth college reunion, a visit from my grad school best friend, and my parents’ arrival. Quickly to be followed by Carla’s birthday and subsequent party (which I still haven’t planned yet, because Carla has been dithering; I think we FINALLY have the details set, now I just need to book the place and send out invitations).
Like I said earlier, this is all good stuff! Happy, fun, wonderful things I am excited about and have been looking forward to! And yet, THIS IS TOO MANY THINGS.
One of my gentle aspirations this year was to get together with two friends a month, if you need a sense of my typical level of social interaction. This is so far beyond the typical that I am I am waving the white flag. I am standing on the prow of the ship, shouting “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” into the storm.
What do you do when you have too much going on? I am coping with walks – ALONE – when I can, and by sitting on the couch – ALONE – and watching episodes of Jeopardy! and reruns of Psych when I can. So far, these strategies are not helping a huge amount, mainly because my alone time has been severely limited. Because, of course, these Fun Extra Events are all being squeezed in and around Carla’s continued roster of activities and my regular duties of attempting to be a human. So I feel like I have little to no time to sit in a quiet room and decompress before bravely facing all the people and the talking once again.
Well. There’s no way out but through. Let’s think about food instead of about making small talk with a million more people. Yes, that’s right. Meal planning is the less onerous option here.
Last week was a sheet pan success, even though I only managed to make two of the meals I planned, so I’ve got a couple of sheet pan items on the menu again as well as a couple of leftovers. (The sheet pan tandoori chicken and cauliflower was my favorite, by the way. Very similar flavors to my old shawarma standby, but in a different and delicious form.) (Instead of sticking to the things I had planned, I also tried a balsamic chicken and veggie bake. It was okay, but the balsamic sauce ended up overpowering the meal. I might use the sauce only for the chicken if I make this recipe again.)
Dinners for (practically) the LAST WEEK IN MAY OMG:
- Summer Chipotle Chicken Salad with Cilantro Dressing: I did not manage to make this last week, but I have been thinking about it with longing. So back on the meal plan it goes! The only issue is that it calls for strawberries, and the berries on offer lately haven’t been particularly appealing, especially because they are also wildly expensive. To be fair, I don’t think it’s quite strawberry season. But maybe I’ll swap in blueberries? I haven’t decided if that will taste right with the cilantro dressing. Follow Up: This was underwhelming. The cilantro dressing was fine, the blueberries were fine (or, at least, I couldn’t see how strawberries would have been better), but the whole dish was kind of one-note. I think it could have benefited from some chunks of fresh mozzarella. When it comes to chipotle chicken, I VASTLY prefer this recipe.
- Chicken Fajitas: A couple of people mentioned sheet pan chicken fajitas last week and I built up quite a craving.
- Mediterranean Chicken and Veggies: I think this was a backup for one of my options last week, and I didn’t make it or the meal for which it was a backup. But I have lots of cauliflower leftover from the tandoori sheet pan meal and I have some zucchini ready to go, so I think this is a done deal. Follow Up: This was delicious! I used cauliflower, zucchini, red onion, and chicken. The recipe doesn’t make a huge amount of marinade, but it was just right. The tahini sauce was fine, although nothing special. If I’d had hummus on hand, maybe thinning that out with some lemon juice would have been better (and quicker). I did drizzle the veggies and chicken with leftover cilantro dressing from the chipotle chicken salad, and combined with the tahini sauce, it added a delicious zing.
- Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies: This is my reach meal for this week. Sarah recommended it, and it sounds delicious, but maybe more importantly, it sounds different from what we normally eat. Here is where I admit that I have never once cooked a sausage in my life. I’m not opposed to sausage. We ate kielbasa semi-regularly when I was growing up. But it wasn’t my favorite. I guess I feel about sausage the way I feel about meatloaf: totally something I am fine eating, but not necessarily something I would choose. But maybe that’s why it is the perfect choice! Maybe I will realize that I have been missing out on a delicious and easy protein source! At the very least, it will be a pleasant novelty compared to all the chicken we eat around here. If I can get past the abundant variety of sausage options and just CHOOSE one, I think I can make this happen.
