Project 365: 70/365

When I was a very little girl and my dad was away at sea, my mother devised an ingenious scheme that made it possible for her to only cook two nights a week.

On Monday, she'd make Sweet & Sour Chicken.
On Tuesday, she'd make Shepherd's Pie.
On Wednesday, we'd eat with my Nana and Grandad.
On Thursday, we'd have left over S&S Chicken.
On Friday, we'd have left over Shepherd's Pie.
On Saturday, one of us would have chicken, the other pie.
On Sunday, we ate with Nana and Grandad again.
(Mom, feel free to correct me if any of this is wrong... I'm sure it is and I'm sure you will...)

I credit this genius scheme to two habits I have had throughout my life since then. First, I can eat the same thing every day and not get bored. And, second, I LOVE that damn Sweet and Sour Chicken! It was always my first choice when I got to pick the meal for dinner... much to my father's dismay. He hates this recipe with a burning, fiery passion. He complains that there is nothing "sour" about this dish, that it is all sweet "as muck." In an ongoing effort to please my father, my mother served this dish less and less throughout the years, until it was just a distant sensory memory for me.

Fast forward to 2005, when I'm in London on my semester abroad and in my first apartment (up until now I'd been living in a sorority house with access to only a toaster and a microwave), and mom starts e-mailing me recipes that I like. In and amongst all the deliciousness was this gem... and I'm not going to lie I used to make it when I'd start to get homesick.

Now, in 2010, I'm a harried graduate student with huge dark circles under my eyes and a stack of work up to my shoulders. I've been stressed out, freaking out, breaking out, and getting sick and run down. So when I planned my grocery list for the week, you can bet that the ingredients for this old favorite were on it.

Ahh, sweet bliss. Or should I say... sweet and sour bliss! And, since I'm not sharing my meals with an 18-month-old, I have enough for the whole week.

Maybe next weekend I'll make a Shepherd's pie. Hmm...