Lazy about lunch

I just realized today while once again punting on lunch–a quarter of a honeydew, a chicken-apple sausage, and an iced decaf–that while I use recipes almost every night for dinner, I almost never crack a cookbook for lunch.  And I’m fairly willing to bet that you don’t either.

It’s not really surprising.  Some of us are working when lunch arrives, so we’ve packed some leftovers or something equally simple, or we go out for a little bite.  Some of us are at home, but with no one else around it barely seems worth it to prep and clean for one.  Or we packed lunch for a bunch of other people already this morning, and we’re plumb out of lunch mojo.

When I see a lunch book (or a sandwich book, which amounts to basically the same thing), I briefly admire the publisher’s courage, check out the pictures and set it out down, sighing “Too ma fan .”  Ma fan was one of my grandmother’s favorite expressions.  It just means “bother,” as in “too much bother”.

Yet a couple of hours later, I’m in a cooking mood again.  I cook for an hour and a half, maybe two, and sometimes I make extra on purpose.  Because it may not be ma fan to cook a little more at 5:30pm, but it certainly will be at 11:45am the next day.

How about you? Do you skip the lunch shift too? or is it your favorite special meal of the day?  

Post a comment

4 Comments

  • Jane  on  July 16, 2012

    This is so well-timed. Just yesterday I thought exactly the same thing as I used up leftovers to make my lunch – scrambled egg with smoked trout and tomatoes. Most of my lunches are leftovers or eggs and I never use a recipe. Yet I invariably use a recipe for dinner, even when cooking for one. I think for me it feels indulgent to spend a lot of time cooking in the middle of the workday whereas cooking in the evening is my relaxing down-time.

  • jumali  on  July 16, 2012

    I actually enjoy cooking something special for lunch. I work from home, so I'm able to. Plus, since I'm the only one here, I get to eat whatever I want and don't have to worry about pleasing my meat and potato husband, or picky 11 year old.

  • Queezle_Sister  on  July 17, 2012

    My yesterday's lunch was leftover zucchini blossom frittata – and I never cook my lunch (other than grilled cheese for the kids on weekends). But I like making sandwiches for dinner – so a lunch cookbook just might find a home on my shelf.

  • chris08226  on  July 18, 2012

    I'm with jumali on this one — I never choose a complicated or time-consuming recipe for lunch, but I do really enjoying using my cookbooks to try new recipes (or make old favorites) at lunchtime. My husband is a little bit picky, so there are a lot of recipes I wouldn't make for both of us for dinner. But, working from home means I'm serving just myself at lunchtime and can make whatever I please! And I do love leftovers, so sometimes I'll cook just one or two days and have enough to eat for lunch the rest of the week.

Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!