Guest Post: Dinner Parties, Before & After Kids

Guest Post: Dinner Parties, Before & After Kids
I can’t tell you how excited I am to introduce today’s guest blogger: Amber Dusick, the genius behind a hilarious new parenting blog called Parenting. Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. Perhaps you’ve already heard of her (I’ve plugged Crappy Pictures on WTEB’s Facebook page, and her blog’s a nominee for Parents magazine’s Funniest Mom Blog. Which it totally is.)
 
But Amber’s sheer awesomeness isn’t the real reason I’m so psyched to have her here. It’s because Amber’s an honest-to-god friend of mine. We met on a message board oh, sevenish years ago and have watched each other go through marriage, TTC (that’s Trying to Conceive, for the uninitiated), fertility problems, and eventually pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. She was even a recipe tester for my cookbook. Having a ringside seat for her impending cultural explosion makes me absolutely giddy. Seriously, if you’re a parent and you don’t love Crappy Pictures, you must not have a funny bone. Read on, and see if you don’t laugh out loud (or at the very least smile broadly in recognition).
 
If you’ve come to Words to Eat By via Crappy Pictures, welcome! I hope you’ll spend some time with me. You’ll find loads of parenting-oriented food stuff here. And trust me, you won’t want to miss The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Entire World. Maybe even consider subscribing, via RSS or email? OK, enough with the sales pitch. On to Amber…

When Debbie asked me to guest blog here I immediately said yes. And then regretted it. She has a FOOD blog. How can I fake being a foodie? Have I cooked anything worth mentioning recently? No.

I used to be a foodie though. Can I fake it?

At first, I considered using a story from back before my husband and I had kids. We threw elaborate dinner parties. We did. We’d print up menus. We’d discuss wine pairing at length. Back then, we began cooking days in advance.

I figure I could even drop in food nerd terms like “making a roux” so it seems like I know what I’m talking about still. But I don’t. I don’t even remember what that is exactly. I’m sorry, I just can’t fake this.

Instead, I’ll just admit defeat and give you a drawing of what planning for one of our elaborate dinner parties was like before we had kids:

And now, what planning for one of our “elaborate” dinner parties is like, after having kids:

And it isn’t just dinner parties. It is nearly every night for dinner. Who has the time?

And well, this is why Debbie wrote her cookbook for me. For ME!

Okay, for me and all the other millions of parents who have vague recollections of eating well once upon a time. But mostly for me.

If you have ever forgotten to turn on the oven* due to sleep deprivation, you need this cookbook.

*To be clear, some of Debbie’s recipes involve turning on an oven. Probably several. But you can do it! She will help you!

PS – For my readers who are new here: Debbie wrote a cookbook called Parents Need to Eat Too: Nap-Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents which will be available February, 2012. It will help you eat stuff other than the rejected crusts of your child’s sandwiches! What, you don’t do that?