where does my time go?

In the build-up to last Christmas I was gabbing on the phone with Christine at a fairly regular clip. A "fairly regular clip" would be something between once a week and once an hour; I'll let you imagine the pyramids of time. With the trans-Atlantic time change I'd catch her at the end of her day while I was either just beginning mine or sitting around early on my Saturday. As one does, I'd ask her how the day went, if anything interesting happened, what they had for dinner...the usual going steady chit-chat. Not knowing the secret of the quilt (she made me a beautiful handmade quilt for Christmas) I always thought her days sounded a little, well...boring. What was this woman doing with her days? While on her end, she had to come up with various stories, events, and embellishments to fill the massive gaps that the quilting demanded. Now, this story doesn't mean much aside from wondering where my time goes. I always end up saying the same stuff when I talk on the phone, "nothing new here, just studying and doing the laundry". That's not really true though, I do a lot beyond those basic necessities, but most of the activities are in kitchen. In fact, today I was staring at some really brown bananas that needed help (or saving), talking on the phone, and wondering if I had both a recipe for something baked with bananas, and the ability to not completely screw up the baking part. I'm not much of a baker, too exact (baking, not me), but I managed to give it a go with the help of my Moosewood cookbook; a batch of banana-walnut muffins. Voila! What this led to was remembering my Mom's banana bread, circa 70s and 80s. I thought about calling and getting that recipe because everyone's mother's banana bread is the best ever. It's a part of childhood just like her meatloaf, green bean casserole with french onions on top, and Western Springs spaghetti. Hmm, would Mom make all the dishes of yore if we showed up one Saturday night for dinner? After some time I'm sure the recipes fade from memory, the cards get brown and tattered, and once the kids are gone there's no need to worry so much about piles of food on the table. So, anyway, this long process led to the muffins and some more answers to my weekend. Saturday and Sunday usually mean a batch of romesco sauce, a pile of hummus for wraps, a load of falafel and getting the fruit and veg ready for the week. My time is valuable...full of using and cleaning the Cuisinart. Now I just need someone to show up and need lunch made for the day, "Here, look! I've got a wrap 'strip mall' in my 'fridge. Come on, hurry...". Unlike my mother, I don't yet have the stalwart dishes that fill my repetoire, but Laurel always insists on Salmon and pototoes for dinner on our first day together. Sarah just wants a large slab of meat, but what can you do? If I could convince them to eat Nan with shrimp, pesto, chevre or my eggplant/almond enchiledas I'd be set. Hello to all. Have a piece of cheese and some OJ before you leave. xo