By Lee Scott
She came to town. You know the person. She calls to say she has made a reservation and wants to spend a few days.
“Don’t worry,” she says “I will stay out of the way. You won’t even notice me around.”
But then you do notice.
“What happened to the geraniums on the back porch?”
“Oh, they were dead,” she says.
“No wonder, the other ones looked so good,” we said.
“That is because they are fake,” she says.
My husband and I looked at each other. That is right, when we remember that neither of us have a green thumb nor have watered a plant in forever.
She starts clanging around in the kitchen. Where is your frying plan? She wants to make breakfast. Then she proceeds to make eggs, bacon, and some fresh blueberry muffins on the side. My normal bowl of cereal seemed so sad next to the bagels, cream cheese, and lox that she served.
Her meal was incredible. And my spouse’s Jimmy Dean’s sausage frozen package thrown in the microwave was sad looking next to her spread.
Afterward, as she was cleaning up, we both commented on how delicious the breakfast was and how nice it was for her to clean up afterward too.
A few days of her cooking was a bit overwhelming. We had deli sandwiches and homemade bowls of soup for lunch. Everything was delicious.
She made some of those one-pan meals too like Beef Stew, chicken pot pies, and chicken casseroles. She cut up vegetables for nice salads and put out fresh bread with fresh butter.
Then we had a bit of deja vu. There was a time when we did make these kinds of meals. Both our mothers provided us with some decent recipes, but after a while our lives got busy and we started to do more and more take out.
Then we digressed to frozen TV dinners. They really were not for our taste buds, just to put something on our stomachs.
So now we are back to cooking. There are numerous recipes that can be put together in moments and we can sit down and enjoy dinner again. Even those pre-made Blue Apron meals are better than some of the junk we were eating.
Our unwelcome visitor was wonderful after all, and she was not in the way at all. She reminded us to take the few minutes to shop for food and prepare it. She has even encouraged us to take those side trips to the Farmers’ Market on the weekends. The food tastes so much better and she turned out to be the best welcome visitor ever.
Lee Scott, award winning humor writer takes her “Walter Mitty” like persona and spins tales around everyday life. She enjoys boating, reading, and meeting people. Scott lives in Beaufort with her husband, JD, along with their dog Brandy. You can reach her at Lasshood@aol.com.
