One of Those Days

My mom and my grandmother have a habit of offering food or drink whenever there is a glaze of despair in someone's eyes. To their credit, the offerings are usually of something healthy as well as delicious. The impulse is an ancient one: they want to "make it all better", and lacking any other practical means to do so, they attempt to comfort through food.

I think it was Tom Brown, in one of his survival-skills books, who said that you get no brownie points for struggling. If you are having one of those days, do what you can to solve the problems, and then do what you can to add some comfort and peace to your world. It won't help your state of mind to add a messy house and a barren refrigerator to your list of woes. It might help to sit down to a soul-satisfying meal knowing that for the moment you have done all that you could.

I was having one of those days myself today, compounded by the fact that I am an ocean away from the home where the troubles need solutions. Something Ursula K. LeGuin wrote popped into my head (I'm paraphrasing here since I don't have her books with me. I believe this was in Tehanu): "We don't know what to do, but there is always the next thing to be done."

So I did what I could. I made phone calls, I sent emails, I jotted down possible solutions and back up plans. When I ran out of trouble-shooting options, I did laundry (I hate doing laundry, but today dirty clothes were a satisfyingly solvable problem). I made Potato Leek Soup with some potatoes that were threatening to sprout if I didn't use them. I made Swiss Sunday Bread.

Few tears have ever been forgotten because of a boneless chicken breast, but many have been transformed into a calmer state of mind by a rich bowl of creamed soup, or a heap of mashed potatoes with gravy. My personal comfort foods are often creamy or starchy. Part of the comfort, if you are the cook, is a certain amount of smashing and pounding that you can get out of your system. This is not the time for your food processor or bread machine. Punch down the bread by hand, smash the potatoes, and smile benevolently when you serve up the delicious food you have created out of your frustration.

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