Jeff Paul

a piece of cake on a plate

Comfort meals

On a normal cold and rainy day, like it is here in Chicagoland today, I enjoy a good comfort meal to warm up both physically and mentally. It’s interesting what people view as a comfort meal as it usually relates to something they had as a child. With all the uncertainty in the world lately due to coronavirus, it makes a comfort meal all that more mentally comforting.

So today I introduced my kids to one of my favorite comfort meals. Grilled cheese with tomato soup, but the real important item that caps it off for me is a diced hard boiled egg in the soup.

a piece of cake on a plate

So I’m curious, what are some of your favorite comfort meals? What are you enjoying lately that’s helping ease your mind from the concerns on coronavirus?

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5 responses to “Comfort meals”

  1. Aaron S Jorbin Avatar
    Aaron S Jorbin

    One of my comforts is very similar. I love putting some canned corn inside of a grilled cheese sandwich.

    Reply
    1. jeffpaul Avatar
      jeffpaul

      Interesting, is that also a childhood favorite?

      Reply
  2. Jeremy Felt Avatar
    Jeremy Felt

    Song number one is not a fuck you songI’ll save that thought until later onYou want to know if there’s something wrong?It’s nothingIt’s nothingFugazi, Song Number One

    I’m not sure how I made it this far without listening to Fugazi, and maybe I’m forgetting something, but I think I did.

    This week I listened to their first few albums and had a blast. Music like this always brings back the best memories of playing in rock and roll bands. Sometimes I’m not sure I had a great reason for stopping. I know my day job “demanded” a lot—I worked too much and got paid too little. Was it that I was broke and tired of driving my crappy car into the city every week for rehearsal? Of all the things I wrote about, why don’t I ever explain that!?

    And how on earth is the Myspace page still up! There’s a throwback photo for you. 😂

    Jeff posted about his comfort meal—grilled cheese and tomato soup with hard-boiled eggs—and asked for others’.

    I’ve been thinking all week about my answer. There are a lot of great foods, but nothing that really pops into my brain as “comfort”. That said, I have a lot of great memories around grilled cheese and tomato soup (without the egg, which I should definitely try).

    There’s a good chance Michelle and I made that for dinner at least 3 times a week when we first met. It was one of our meals of choice while hosteling in Ireland and is always a right answer. Once for St. Patrick’s Day we actually ordered Brennans bread and Knorr tomato soup mix from Ireland so that we could actually recreate the experience.

    The photos I had on Instagram from that day are now on Micro.blog, which is nice. One perfect meal, which is absolutely comforting, is:

    Knorr tomato soup mixBrennans Irish BreadKerrygold Irish butterand Kerrygold Dubliner cheese

    I very much enjoyed Om’s post, “Dealing with not knowing“. Please go read it and I will also steal a quote from Edvard Munch that he used:

    I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.Edvard Munch, on why he painted the Scream

    I am never going to look at that painting the same way again.

    I’ve done well this week at maintaining focus. Last week’s “find a single focus” has started working pretty well.

    First, I’ve paid a lot of attention to the way I think things should go and the way that things do go.

    One example is that I often think I should start working by 8am in order to have a productive day and wrap things up by 5pm. But in reality, I’m never ready to sit and start working at 8am. I’d also like to be a bit more mindful to how the day begins. After accepting that, I moved how I thought about my schedule around and the days have started much nicer.

    So thumbs up to accepting the reality of a 9am start when that’s when you start every day.

    And second, I tricked my brain! Last week’s bookmark moving has completely paid off. Instead of reactionary visits to COVID dashboards and news sites, I have to go hunting for them. This usually causes me to just turn back to what I was doing, which is a welcome change.

    Happy Friday—it’s pizza night. Stay safe and home. 🍕

    Reply
  3. Josepha Haden Chomphosy Avatar
    Josepha Haden Chomphosy

    Do you dip the grilled cheese in the soup? Or is that a no no?

    Reply
    1. jeffpaul Avatar
      jeffpaul

      Absolutely approved and generally recommended! 😉

      Reply

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