So many leftovers…

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

So, I did a thing…

Well first, let me say, I do not know how women do it. Forgive me if this comes off as misogynistic, but I grew up in a world where the women of the family did most of the cooking and I don’t think I’m being outdated or offensive by assuming most of you did too, and that largely that is still the case (feel free to tell me just how wrong I am if that is not true here in 2024).

Anyway, I have 50 years’ worth of memories now of my mom, my grandmother, my wife, my mom’s wife, my mom’s grandmother, my aunts, my daughter and my female cousins and such cooking all of our holiday meals for the big family get-togethers. Sure, my dad or my uncles or my father-in-law might be the one manning the grill if it was an outdoor barbecue sort of deal, but in the kitchen, it was the ladies who did all the

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the preparations and such for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and those types of meals.

So typically, we go out to my wife’s parents’ place in beautiful scenic Haynes, Arkansas for the major holiday meals, including Easter Sunday dinner (and up until everyone decided to go an grow up, hunt eggs).

Well, this year, we all had different things going on when it was actual Easter Sunday, so the big family get-together had to wait a couple of weeks. So, we invited our grown kids, their wives and my parents (who still live here in tows) over to our house for a nice delayed “Easter” lunch.

Cool, right?

And since my wife had lots of other stuff going on, I even took it upon myself to say I’d take care of the cooking. One of the things about a traditional Easter dinner is that the dishes themselves aren’t really all that complex, right?

And I cook at least a few nights a week anyway so I know my way around the kitchen. Cool, right?

Turns out, it was harder than I thought. As the day grew closer, I began mapping out the process in my mind — making sure I had everything I needed, figuring out what order and when I needed to begin each dish, seeing what anyone else was bringing so we wouldn’t double up on anything (or worse, leave something vital off the menu).

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I got commitments from my mother for her famous homemade rolls, my daughter would be in charge of the deviled eggs, and my daughter-in-law was down to make a coconut cream pie.

That meant I was onlt responsible for making the ham, the mashed potatoes, the corn casserole, the green beans, and a chocolate pie.

Cool, right?

Turns out, no, not cool. Not cool at all. Yes, none of those things are incredibly complicated but they sure are time consuming and I ended up starting everything Saturday night and staying up late gettin all of my culinary ducks in a row.

Oh, and of course, I would miss out on a couple of hours of potential prep time because I also had church services to attend Sunday morning. I teach Sunday school, so there’s no skipping allowed (and, yes, I know Jesus is the whole point of Easter, so I’m not really complaining, just pointing it out…)

Anyway, I made the pie, dumped all the corn casserole makings into the crock pot, got out the big roaster for the ham, got all of that going, boiled the eggs… and that was all just Saturday night before I could go to bed.

And of course, what happens when I need to get to sleep quickly because I have to get up early in the morning?

Yep, you guessed it… I couldn’t sleep.

I finally nodded off (with itemized lists dancing in my head about peeling potatoes and how much macaroni did I need for 10 people and wondering if I actually started the crock pot or if I just plugged it up) and it seemed like in no time at all, my wife’s alarm was going off.

Well, it turns out that I managed to get everything done (with some much appreciated assistance from my lovely wife) and we all sat down to a nice lunch. I got solid reviews from my family and I assure you no one left hungry. They did leave a whole pile of dishes and pots and pans. And leftovers.

So… many… leftovers.

Again, I just don’t know how women (or men) get all of that stuff done and get it done on time all the while doing all of the other things that must be done, so kudos to Mom and all the other Moms out there who have beein doing it forever!