Keeping the pot boiling

Quiet day at home pottering around the house and garden. Sundays are usually spent doing rather a lot of cooking - breakfast, lunch and supper - but if I can be clever about the timing I sometimes get away with a mid-afternoon lupper (alternatively sunch). Today was one such day, but only due to the arrival of unexpected guests which led to imbibement in the nether regions of the house (aka: beers in the garage), while I fiddled around upstairs. I made chicken in wine sauce with rice and veg for K, who doesn't like braaied meat or lamb, which HWCFA eventually made at 4pm for lupper. Ideally, I should have made a huge chicken curry to feed the masses in the garage, but somehow I only thought of that after their departure.

While I cooked, I got around to thinking about why I go to all this trouble. Well, obviously because no one else is going to do it, but mainly because I like to know that there is always something nutritious in a pot on the stove when anyone comes home - and it could be any time of the day or night. It gives great satisfaction to know that they can rely on me to always hold the fort and ensure that every need is met, even if I myself am going out for a meal that evening. Sometimes it leads to lots of leftovers, which they then get served day after day until all is consumed.

It's even a source of great satisfaction to eventually open the fridge and find there is nothing in it apart from a three-week old piece of cheese, some olives, a bottle of Cape Velvet Cream (I think that's been there for at least 10 years now), the last of the milk and a few wilted vegetables. It means I can go and stock up again and we can have some exciting new dishes. I've been trying for years to get them all onto a healthy eating plan, but you can lead a horse to water..... The big problem is you can't control what they are eating away from home and I have a cadenza when I open the wheelie bin and find empty brown bags and Coke bottles, meaning they picked up some fast food along the way. The word 'food' is, of course, a misnomer.

On reflection, I see that my place in this household is glorified housekeeper, but there are compensations - I get mornings off, do ladies' lunches, and best of all, take overseas trips without them!