Dishes or Dinner | Day 2

Never thought I’d have to choose. And if I ever *did* have to choose?

Well, now.

Dinner.

Hello.

But on this day when my kitchen looked like this.

And this.

And my dear husband wanted chili… See, he’d been here for two weeks by himself.  I comforted myself in my alone-ness back in SC with the thought that he was probably barely draggggggggging himself to work everyday, hunched over at the waist with severe cravings for my mashed potatoes and blueberry muffins.  He had to be thinking of all the healthy food recipes he could cook himself and wishing I were there to help take some of the load off. Yes. As he cooked his own 3 course meal (complete with veggie filled salads, right?) and ate (by himself) with candles, he was probably missing me something fierce.

Poor, poor guy.

Really though, he was completely enjoying himself. Eating up all sorts of Philadelphia fare – cheesesteaks, of course. (He already has a favorite!) And by golly there’s pizza places here like there are churches in the South!

They’re on every. corner!!

And there’s a Buffalo Wild Wings. So…yeah, he wasn’t cooking anything. He didn’t even go grocery shopping until the night before we arrived. *eye roll*

Lovely people from the church up here we came to be a part of, introduced themselves and brought dinner – all at the same time – to our front door.

Needless to say, he didn’t starve without me around.

But he did admit to being a little hungry for my cooking.

Ehhhhhh….I’ll take it.

So he wanted chili for dinner. Nothing big – just something I could whip up in the crockpot. So I did – with just four ingredients and some spices.

The problem was – this kitchen is only 14’x7′. And the actual kitchen kitchen part? Like, the part with the stove and the fridge and the nothing-else-cause-theres-no-space-for-it part is only 7’x7′. Now. I’m certainly not complaining because I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately on cooking and raising kids in other cultures around the world and with a 49 sq ft kitchen, I’m sitting pretty nice.

But it’s still tiny compared to what I’m used to. And with no dishwasher….I had to wash dishes and I had to cook dinner. There were boxes all over the place. I made a box stack on the floor and cleared the counter top. I plugged in the crockpot on the kitchen counter. I washed a plate. (Guess who uses disposables now?) I went to set down the plate to dry. But the crockpot was in the way. So I stood there, in my tiny kitchen, with a dripping plate and stared at my crockpot like I stare at a jigsaw puzzle and tried to figure out what to do. It took me about 30 seconds of figurin’.

This is what happened.

Who says you can’t cook dinner in the living room? And I hear that nice music makes plants grow better. Maybe banjos and pianos make chili taste better.

It was good. So we ate dinner in the middle of boxes. And we ate it in my big coffee mugs, because that’s what was unpacked. I think the bowls are in a box in the bathroom. And we eat chili and ice cream in coffee mugs anyway. We piled it high with sour cream and my favorite Cabot five year white cheddar from Costco and called it a {very good} night.

So I’ve never been one to take no for an answer. I did both. Next time though, I think I’ll take advantage of the conundrum and just skip the dishes. 🙂

Ya’ll, make some chili sometime this weekend. Go ahead and add some other ingredients if you need to – kidney beans or black beans or a hint of cinnamon. This isn’t gonna win any contests or anything. But it is good. And it is easy. And it is doable in the middle of a move. Or small children. Or lots of homework. ( Here’s a printable version.) And if you have to plug your crockpot in a different room to save space, go for it. It only makes it taste better.

Have a great night!

This blog post is part of a 31 day series called Fall in Philadelphia. If this is your first stop along the way, I am so glad you’re here and I hope today’s post brought you a little warmth and coziness. This journey is best taken from the very beginning as each day’s posts are pretty much *live* as I’m living this journey. All of the blog posts in this series will be linked together on the Fall in Philadelphia landing page. Click here to be taken there.