Can You Still Make A Wish On A Wish Bone, If You Pull Both Ends?

This is a short tale about not having to cook for anyone but me, myself and I.  For FOUR (4) whole days! Once upon a time I had a conversation with a female friend, who because she was single, told me she never, ever cooked for herself and basically lived on salad, tuna fish and grilled cheese sandwiches.  I looked at her and thought, “what?” coupled by my mumbling underneath my breath, “then why are you so zaftig?”

Now it’s not like me to give up cooking even when I’m flying solo but the truth is I was working from the Red House and was actually welcoming the idea of just having some granola for breakfast, a yogurt or cottage cheese for lunch, and salad for dinner.  Plus, I’m at the age unfortunately, where I, too, could stand to lose a few pounds.

It started out fine, at first. I poured myself some granola for breakfast one morning and sliced a banana on top.

Banana And Store Brand Granola Breakfast

After sitting at the computer for too many hours, however, and feeling like my eyes were in the back of my head, I got up and decided some cottage cheese with perhaps a few sliced cucumbers and tomatoes would perk me up. It didn’t. The cottage cheese was bland and the tomatoes and cukes (both hot house) had no taste either.  I ate it anyway.

Not That Tasty Cottage Cheese Lunch

Coming off a crappy lunch, I decided dinner would have to be better so I decided to make myself a version of a “chef’s” salad.  I picked some lettuce from the garden, cut up a few slices of ham, fresh mushrooms, more tomatoes and some thin slices of real Parmigiano Reggiano.  I dressed the salad with a homemade mustard vinaigrette and it was really good!

Chef's Salad, My Way

The next few days I did a few variations on this theme –sometimes having a slice of toast for breakfast and a yogurt with granola for lunch.  One day for lunch I decided to go “Scandinavian,” making myself an open faced sandwich of a sliced hard boiled egg with a plum for dessert.

Scandinavian Polka Dot Egg Sandwich

And for dinner one night, because I was bored, and also because I started to think of what my life would be like as a single girl (just kidding, Lynn!), I made myself a tuna fish sandwich but kicked up a notch as a tuna melt.

This lasted for about three days, these simple breakfasts, lunches and dinner but then came Day 4.  Day 4 you see, I made the mistake of walking into town because I wanted to pick up a few things for the weekend and I went to the market.  Sitting there, staring at me under a big heating lamp was a roast chicken.  It looked at me (I swear!) and said, “Miss your oven, huh?”

I bought the chicken.  And I bought an entire jar of applesauce.  Why, I don’t know.  It just sounded like a good thing to eat with the bird.

I walked back home carrying my chicken and my applesauce and decided I would make a salad from my garden and top it off with some leftover gorgonzola cheese.  Since it was  Bastille Day, and I like all things French,  I opened a bottle of white wine, too.

I ate standing up, welcoming a break from sitting and staring at the computer screen, and looked at all the sanding and spackling and painting that still needs to be done. In between I took bites of chicken, salad and huge spoonfuls of apple sauce.

Lovely Lettuce Greens With Gorgonzola Crumbles

Surely this was one of the best store-bought roast chickens on the face of the earth I thought as I was licking my fingers….or was it just my boring meals for one would make anything taste delicious?

Oh yeah, and since Lynn and I always look forward to ending our day together with a nice meal, I was talking to him on the phone as I was eating.  Had he been there, enjoying the chicken with me, he would have been able to pull the other side of the wish bone.   Breaking the wishbone in half myself, I knew we would still both wish for the same thing.