I smiled at him conspiratorially. “How about you stay home, and we’ll do some stuff together in it so it feels more like ours? We can bake a cake, make pizza, and watch a movie.Then we can take Molly for a walk in the park, and afterwards, you can play in your room while you finish deciding on what to name your kitty.”
“Lilo and Stitch!”
“But of course,” I replied brightly though inwardly I cringed. It was a great movie but once a day, every day, was a bit much for me.
“And sketti for dinner when Daddy gets home, with cheesy garlic bread!”
“Sure, we can do that.”
“Yay!” He danced around happily.
I smiled as he raced back to his room to get out of his pajamas after all. I sure hoped Jolar wouldn’t be mad at me for letting him stay home today. Something told me he’d understand, though.
“Hey, Xero,” I called out as I poured myself a coffee from the drip coffee maker built into the kitchen cabinetry. “Please let the school know Neal’s staying home today as we’re still settling in after the move. He’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Message sent.”
“Thanks, Xero. Um, I think since we’re kinda celebrating our move, Jolar’s promotion, and getting the furbabies, the cake should be different than a regular old yellow cake or even an ordinary chocolate one. It needs to be easy to make though.”
“An article from a 1967 Good Housekeeping article suggests lemon pound cake for relaxed notable events or entertaining. Would you like the recipe?”
“Yes, please.”
The outside of the refrigerator immediately displayed the requested recipe, and I walked over to read it. It did seem easy to make and to clean up, using only one bowl and single loaf pan.
“Breakfast first,” I told myself as Neal came rushing in.
“Can we has cheesy eggs?”
“Scrambled eggs with cheese?” I asked, wanting to make sure I understood what he wanted.
“Uh huh. Daddy mixes them all up and puts in orange cheese. Onion too but gots to be the kind that’s powder in the jar because regular onions are yucky.”
“I’ll make some toast too.”
“With jam!”
I looked around for where the spices might have been put away, quickly spotting a tall, skinny pull out pantry cupboard. Bingo! Jolar had onion salt, how had I not noticed this? I needed to do more cooking from scratch like he did, I decided. Well, if it was a day I wasn’t too busy.
Not to mention you need to learn to cook a few more things,I reminded myself. My grandmother had done all the cooking, not liking anyone doing anything in her kitchen except making the occasional sandwich or fetching drinks. That gave me an idea.
“Um, Xero, could you come up with some meals for dinner that Neal might like that are easy to make? And include the recipes. Nothing processed, please. I want to try to cook some stuff he and Jolar might enjoy.”
“Would you like me to send them to your tablet and order the ingredients and any equipment you don’t already have?”
Equipment? “Nothing needing fancy equipment. I need really simple recipes.”
“I was thinking about obtaining a crockpot and a stand mixer for you, as well as a basic food processor.”
“Oh, um, yes. Those sound like excellent ideas.”
I laughed at myself mentally as I whisked the eggs. I’d imagined a pasta maker and a fondue pot and shit like that. I should have known better. I heated up the frying pan after first adding the oil, careful to remember how the settings on the crazy Mylos version of a stove worked. While it heated, I seasoned the egg mixture. Remembering that I’d spotted some turkey bacon in the fridge, I took out a second pan and turned on the element below it before fetching the bacon I now desperately wanted to go with my eggs.
“Yay! Bacon!” Neal cried out, spotting it in my hands. Unfortunately, I’d also attracted the attention of Molly and both cats, who began circling around me.
“Neal, could you get their food out of the cupboard next to you and give them some?”
“Okay, Papa. Where are their bowls?”
