My neighbour lost his wife last week, suddenly, shockingly. Amidst his grief he is now going to have to learn to be a single parent to his four-year old daughter, hairdresser, housekeeper, chief cook and bottle washer, and did I mention single parent?
The mind boggles. And the awful thing is, this is not the first time this has happened to one of our friends.
My heart goes out to anyone who is left alone like this, but it seems extra heart-wrenching when it’s a father left with young daughter.
Of course, all the neighbors are rallying around and have cooked him so much food that he’s had to call a halt for a few days until they eat their way to the exits (really, if it wasn’t frozen I’m sure all that food would constitute a fire hazard).
Obviously we can’t feed them forever. They’ll have to find their own way, so the neighbourhood moms are talking about putting together a cookbook of all the recipes that we’ve found easy and kid-friendly over the years that we’ve had to feel our way into this housekeeper-cook gig. I’m planning to add tips to my recipes, the best advice I’ve picked up from cookbooks and cooking shows; things that might seem obvious after you’ve done them a million times (like: when is a pancake done? How do you roast a chicken? How long do you cook a steak?)
One of the things he has shared, is how much his daughter loved to cook with her mother. He’s hoping to carry that on, so I guess they’ll kind of be learning together (credit where credit is due, he’s not completely clueless, but wasn’t the one who did the majority of the shopping and cooking).
So here’s my call:
What is your best, kid-friendly recipe? Your go-to supper? Care to share? You can do so in the comments or link to a recipe in your own blog. Invite your friends. We can make this an Internet Neighbourhood Recipe Swap! And if you don’t mind, I’ll pass them on to my neighbour too, and we’ll prove to the world what a community of caring people can do.