Tonight's Menu

The chef prepares a special menu for your delight, oh my
Tonight you fly so high up in the vanilla sky
Unbearable or great
You gotta love every hour, you must appreciate
- Paul McCartney, "Vanilla Sky"

They say many things change when you have a baby, and they're right. I now consider it totally "normal" to have to get up a few times a night and replace Zoe's pacifier (and that's in addition to the few times Lisa gets up, too). If a diaper needs to be changed, we can change it on the middle of the floor--or just before Sunday school class, as we did last Sunday--as long as that's the best spot at the time. I've also found myself eating meals at all different hours, and I'm typically a very regular eater; I know I may not look like I eat every meal, but I do--I don't skip them, and I'm not late. All that's out the door now that we have Zoe.

We've also had our share of medical expenses, which change one's perspective on the "good" things in life. I used to think a fine dinner with a glass of wine was one of those good things. Now I find myself agreeing with the father character from the new TV show "Middle," who--after admitting at a parent-teacher conference that his son was very socially awkward--commented, "I just hope he's weird enough that insurance will cover it." I laughed out loud at that; I thought it was one of the funniest lines of the episode. Would I have laughed at this five years ago? Maybe a chuckle. But now, insurance coverage of some medical expense we've had is like finding the prize in the cereal box 25 years ago--it's awesome!

Our support system of family and friends has been tremendous in many ways, but especially in providing us with meals. There's no telling how many man-hours we've saved not having to cook every day, or at least venture out to grab some fast food. This support has allowed us to delay the daily task of meal preparation until our first-time parents learning curve was a little further along, and I am very thankful for that. I'm confident that we can handle the extra task from here on out (as we don't expect to keep receiving meals indefinitely). But one of our first attempts may not have been the finest . . .

Most of you know that Lisa is a tremendous cook. She doesn't enjoy baking as much, but she usually comes up with very tasty dinners for the Gavin family. Understandably, however, she doesn't always have the time now to make something wonderful every night. And Sunday night is an especially lazy feeling night when, I think, many of us are satisfied to munch on some chips and leftovers and call ourselves satisfied.

We cobbled together such a meal this past Sunday night that we thought fit to share with you blogees: Kroger brand potato salad, leftover cooked carrots from Whole Foods, and box mix blueberry muffins with the crumbly topping made by Lisa. Don't you think that sounds great?!? And yet, when I finally ate at 9:00pm, it tasted just fine to me. It was actually "good" on the Mike meal rating scale ("MMRS"), which Lisa would tell you is equivalent to a 'B.'

But we're new at this baby + meal preparation thing, so give us time, and I'm sure we'll get back to our usual gourmet with Chef Lisa.