We had Fresh Market friend chicken for dinner, salad from the salad bar, and watermelon cut up and containerized for me. I did make the potato salad. I walked in, shopped for 10 minutes, walked out and had dinner "made".
We grew up in the country in the eastern part of Virginia, right along the Chesapeake Bay. The nearest cities (ie places where you could actually shop) were at least 45 minutes away. We usually ended up in Richmond, which was 1.5 hours away. Until a hospital was built there in the late 70's, babies were born in local doctors' offices; serious medical cases were rushed by ambulance to the Richmond hospitals (1.5 hours by car, 45 minutes by ambulance I hear if needed). We were....rural.
Dinner came from the garden: tomatoes, corn, potatoes, green beans, peas and more; fresh fish and crabs from the dock. Cakes were made from scratch, as well as anything else we ate in the house in my memory. Box mixes? Don't think so. Fresh rolls were made each Sunday morning in the house next to us where two sisters lived; I have NO idea how early they awoke before church to get them going. Things were made fresh each day, and dinners were eaten around the table at 5:00 sharp, and you knew to be there on time, whether you were . There was no running around for practices and busy schedules in our house.
The same neighbors that made the rolls (a widow and her sister) also made everything from scratch, sadly without the first recipe. Their fried chicken was awesome. Their greens? Well, I avoided the house on greens-cooking days. You knew....you could smell it a mile away.
But back to the chicken. I have tried many times, but fried chicken just doesn't work for me. Which takes us back to Fresh Market: I know, you thought I'd never get to the point, right? Driving by yesterday, the sign just lured me in: Fresh Fried Chicken: baked fresh every day. Oh yeah, I was sold.
So did I feel guilty feeding my family this way? Nope, it was a good meal, we sat at the table and had good family time.
I've been hearing a lot lately about "Pinterest Stress" for moms. You log in and see all the amazing meals, crafts, homemade gifts and tags, freshly canned jams and so on, and it all looks: perfect.
But let's face it: It's not. No one is. As moms, let's take a little break from the online un-reality and the expectations it places on us.
Are your children fed, healthy and laughing? Great. Good job mom.
Celebrate what you do right. Let go of the other.
Happy Mother's Day all. You're doing a great job.
No comments:
Post a Comment