The Stand-In (Part I)

It's Geoff here, the silent but generally supportive partner in most of the food endeavors in the household. Betty has flown off to the big annual public health shindig in Washington, D.C., I'm sure with some trepidation about the potential for decline in public health in our household while she's away. For those those wondering, we've not (so far) resulted to mac 'n cheese and pizza, canned fruit and excessive numbers of graham crackers. Instead, we've stayed on track, remained focused, played with focus and intensity, and just generally kept our momentum going. (Can you tell it's football season in Big 10 country and that I've listened to one hour too many of sports talk radio?) That is, it's still fresh, local and from scratch, even with the budding local food scholar gone. Okay, so Betty made it easy with detailed lists and lots of good stuff in the freezers and fridge. And okay, so it has only been one day. Caroline is happy and well-fed, too, though is perhaps showing signs of impatience with the fact that I'm hopelessly noso-noso -- that's slow, sluggish and dawdling in Japanese. No, I don't know why it takes me 30 minutes to make grilled cheese sandwiches and defrost the cooked corn. But the main thing is we enjoyed our dinner, even if it was a bit later than usual. Tomorrow is day two, and I may just throw in the towel and opt for fast food takeout. (A joke! Save your letters and threatening phone calls.) For now, however, you can call me "Mr. Local."

Caroline's Lunchbox Menu, November 5: Breakfast - O's and, on the side, a few spoonfuls of cooked corn from the batch we cooked and froze during the summer (a bit unorthodox, I know); Lunch - brown and white rice mixture with garbanzo and pinto beans (warm), cooked corn and carrots, farmer cheese; Snacks - blueberry pancakes and with a jar of extra defrosted Michigan blueberries

Childcare Center Menu, November 5: Breakfast - orange juice, Cheerios and Life cereal; Lunch - shredded cheese, corn and beans, bananas, rice; Snacks - lemon pudding, wheat crackers