What a six-week stretch, I have certainly been places and eaten plenty, but on December 6 our basement flooded, and it has dominated the last 6 weeks. December was more Waterworld than Christmas, now it is HGTV (Home & Garden TV for those not into home remodeling). I have been to Boston, Eastern Washington, Oregon a couple of times, and California multiple times.

In chaotic times my psyche longs for “normal” which I find most often in food. Make all the comments you want about the evils of using food as an escape, but food brings normal to me. There are two places that I find solace in life, one is in the morning when I have Tea With God, and the other is when I spend time with Tricia cooking, talking, and eating.

When your basement, once nicely finished, is decimated by carpets torn up, sheetrock removed, jackhammers installing a drain, and dust on everything there is something comforting about cooking a good meal.

We have had many good meals lately, just last weekend we had crab and shrimp cakes on Friday, and Parmesan Crusted halibut on Sunday. Yesterday a simple butternut squash soup with Gruyere toasts was perfect. We had seafood and oysters with Prosecco a few weeks ago, perfect. On Christmas Eve Alexis and Joe cooked an amazing mushroom soup.

Teaching time and project management as I do, I meet so many folks that are overwhelmed by life, they are so busy, so they do the worst thing they can do, they work through lunch, and grab fast food for dinner so they can get back to work. We should learn from the French, even farm workers sit down to kitchen prepared meals complete with wine. They laugh and talk, and I am convinced they are more productive.

Comfort food is not a bad thing when it is good food, and when it is shared with loved ones it can be an oasis in a storm, it can recharge your energy, and make the tough days just a bit more normal.