Best Meal of 2026?

Another weekend has flown by. The kids have off tomorrow for Yom Kippur but I, alas, do not. T. spent the weekend in Nashville and got to see a really exciting Eagles game. The rest of us followed our usual weekend circuits: Haddon Ave, Knights Park, my parents’ house. I had hoped to spend the day down the shore on Saturday but this lingering cold kept me from it.

But it was a gorgeous day, perfectly sunny and about 75, and I was happy to putter about. I roasted more tomatoes first thing; then F and I stopped in Dulce and Kismet for pastries and coffee. I have a thing for the salted peanut butter cookie at Dulce. Next we hit up an estate sale, but it was pretty small.

Back home I futzed around the garden: picking beans, peppers, thyme, basil and tomatoes; resecuring the bird feeder; cutting back one of the big tomato plants and getting ride of the cage; and finding some fallen branches to edge my side yard garden.

Next year I’ll pull the oregano that’s there and add more soil (or I could do that now and plant blueberry bushes?).

After lunch, I started grouting my mosaic flowerpot outside. Thankfully Tom came along and helped me because apparently I don’t really know how to grout. It looks pretty cool but I need to sand some of the grout and then seal the whole thing. So that will probably take another couple months…

I also took Rocco for a walk and later on took a walk alone. For the first time in months I was chilly in shorts. Dinner was at my parents’ for my sister’s birthday.

Today, perhaps because it’s been rainy all day, I felt tired. I also was up a lot coughing. But F and I did a full grocery run at Wegmans, and I cooked what N said was our best dinner of 2026 (see the list below).

Last Sunday was kind of similar: laying low, football, making gravy, walking the dog, laundry; kids catching up on homework.

I don’t recall too much about last week beyond being sick and that Thursday night was Back to School Night. I only made it about halfway through before the coughing made me leave. The sickness had me waking up extra early and then crashing out early at night. I’ve been reading “Crying in H Mart,” which is pretty good (but I want to read the next book in the Harlem trilogy).

Meals this week:

Sunday: grilled hot dogs and burgers, sauteed green beans from the garden, mashed potatoes. Tom made a makeshift grill with an oven rack and cinder blocks on the patio and it worked really well!

Monday: tortellini Bolognese

Tuesday: leftover mashed potatoes, more green beans, fried ravioli

Wednesday: still more beans, chicken strips

Thursday: Stella Pizza

Friday: Sandwiches from Wawa

Saturday: Dinner at my parents (hoagies, chicken cutlets, pasta salad)

Sunday: baked tilapia with Parmigiano Reggiano/Italian panko breadcrumbs topping, green beans, ready-to-eat scalloped potatoes, and corn on the cob.

Lunches: Tuesday and Thursday, leftover tortellini; bought on Friday.

Spending: $11 at Dulce; $8 at Kismet; $16 for Amazon Prime for certain NFL games; $21 on Mucinex; $17 on a birthday gift.

Tomorrow I should be able to make it to F’s volleyball game. It’s going to be a cool and rainy week — good for cooking. Now I’m off to pop some of the dried beans out and put them in my special new seed envelopes. Is it weird that this is what I look forward to these days?