When I was growing up, dinner was at 5 o’clock… pretty much without exception.
I didn’t seem to matter if my Mom was in her “stay-at-home” phase… or in her “working-woman” phase… It didn’t matter if my Dad had decided that he was going to take over the kitchen and create “breakfast for dinner”… Crap, I don’t think it even mattered if I was actually there or not.
Dinner was at 5.
Looking back, I have no idea how they did it… Looking at the time, right now, it is now about 4:30-ish, I just got off work… I’m tired, hot and hungry. I guess if I really wanted to, I could have dinner ready in 30 minutes. But, I don’t.
Dinner in MY household can be as early as 4:30…. and as late as 8.
Holy crap… that rhymed! *Air Guitar*
When it was just me and Daniel…. many moons ago, dinners were strange. I had just gone out on my own, didn’t know how to cook and was financially strapped. The last meal of the day usually consisted of cottage cheese…. a vegetable…. maybe some Rice-a-Roni.
We was broke, foo.
The fact that I really didn’t know how to cook did nothing to assist the dinner situation at that time in our lives. But, we survived…
These days, our menus are a little more varied, with a few beloved throw-backs from Mom’s o’clock meals…. I can cautiously say, that I have learned to cook. Not that I completely take advantage of this skill….
My favorite dinners are the ones where I wander into the kitchen, exhausted from a long day at work… stare at the empty spot next to the sink, where there probably SHOULD have been some kind of meat thawing, wander over to the freezer and stare unenthusiastically inside, open the fridge *rinse, repeat* …. glance towards the cupboards housing the mac and cheese and hamburger helper…. sigh really extra super loudly and declare, with disgust, that I’m freaking tired and it’s a “Fend fo’ Yo’self Night”
AKA “everyone’s going to end up making themselves top ramen night”
Oh, do I ever remember my own “Top Ramen” phase of 1994….
I could buy 4 for a dollar at one store, and at 25 cents a meal, a good bargain! But then, I discovered a sale, at another place…8 for $1. This shifted my shopping loyalties in another direction. Until I began taking those 13 cent noodlies to lunch…the oils on the dried noodles had gone rancid, and they tasted so awful, I had to pinch my nose while force-feeding myself! Ugh! Poverty does, indeed, suck.
I soon reverted back to my higher priced, 25 cent lunches. And felt a fearful shame that I should let myself splurge to this extent. But, hell, I says to myself, Hell! I’m WORTH it!!!
I used to like crushing them up and eating them like chips… lol
I was out of town for two weeks and came home to a cupboard full of Ramen. That hasn’t been in our house since we realized we weren’t poor grown ups. My poor husband.