As A Japanese person (haha, sorry, couldn’t help myself), my eyes roll all the way into the back of my head when I see articles like the one you describe.
Japanese moms work extremely hard to prepare meals for their families because they are under enormous societal pressure. And many of them find some kind of balance by using prepared foods or serving their kids things like toast for breakfast. Many even have their kids eat (gasp!) the school lunch!
Now I don’t have to read the NYT article. I’ve long believed that breakfast is overrated. Still, re your main point about the morning routine reminded me not to ask my wife for an accounting of the morning workload balance,
As they say, never ask a question when you’re not prepared to hear the answer.
Also, thanks for providing a vocabulary for describing the campus protests. You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head.
We spent years trying to give our kids the healthy, cooked breakfast we didn't get as children. And after far too many years of throwing away leftover oatmeal, we finally gave in to the Cheerios. Cooking breakfast is for empty nesters. And maybe aunties (nobody covets the sauce of their own boring mom).
We did oatmeal as well for a time, and it's still sometimes in the rotation, but I wind up having trouble convincing myself the extra time and pan-soaking (and yes, food waste) makes it a better choice than the nutritionally quite similar yellow box.
Oh for oatmeal you do it overnight in the rice cooker, we used to do that before our kids stopped eating it. Actually the rice cooker is a huge savings in terms of mental load because I don’t have to remember to turn the stove off on my rice or quinoa or kashi or whatever, maybe that’s the true secret of Japanese moms?
'Working [mother]" may more imply part-time work in Japan, but yeah there's a reason why Japanese supermarkets and convienence stores have so many pre-prepared meals available.
"Thing we do Here is done way more wisely Elsewhere" (extra points if Elsewhere is as far away as possible) has to be one of the most exhausted tricks in the McWriter's bag. Coming from the same school of thought as "Scarce thing growing Elsewhere has way higher concentration of [faddish substance of the week] than abundant thing we grow Here". Tie it up with a neat ribbon of "Homicidally salty/greasy sauce from Elsewhere is nevertheless totally good for you because Millenarian Wisdom (even though it was invented in 1967 in San Francisco)" and you're good to go.
If the food lifestyle bloggers make the politico-culture lifestyle bloggers feel bad about their food lifestyle then the politico-culture lifestyle bloggers can make the food lifestyle bloggers feel bad about their politico-culture lifestyle, surely? Take heart!
For some reason this article made me think of Dustin Hoffman trying to make breakfast in Kramer v Kramer and Mary trying to raise the most ungrateful kids of all time in Weeds.
My wife and I get up at different times. She always makes herself an Expresso (or cappuccino? I don't otherwise drink coffee and don't know the difference? The one that's la llave with milk and whipped creme and chocolate at the top?) and when I'm home she offers me one (usually accepted but with almond milk). She eats things with it but nothing she has to prep.
My breakfast today = peanut butter and jelly, diet Shasta, naked juice tropical protein smoothie.
As A Japanese person (haha, sorry, couldn’t help myself), my eyes roll all the way into the back of my head when I see articles like the one you describe.
Japanese moms work extremely hard to prepare meals for their families because they are under enormous societal pressure. And many of them find some kind of balance by using prepared foods or serving their kids things like toast for breakfast. Many even have their kids eat (gasp!) the school lunch!
One day this guy will have a 5 year old, and I hope someone helpfully reminds him of this article then!
OMG, I'm in tears...Coffee? That's the one thing for sure I'm getting before I throw the box of Cheerios at the screaming animals.
Now I don’t have to read the NYT article. I’ve long believed that breakfast is overrated. Still, re your main point about the morning routine reminded me not to ask my wife for an accounting of the morning workload balance,
As they say, never ask a question when you’re not prepared to hear the answer.
Also, thanks for providing a vocabulary for describing the campus protests. You’ve hit the nail on the proverbial head.
I never once received a tamagoyaki for breakfast (or for any meal, actually) as a child, but thankfully therapy has helped me heal this wound.
We spent years trying to give our kids the healthy, cooked breakfast we didn't get as children. And after far too many years of throwing away leftover oatmeal, we finally gave in to the Cheerios. Cooking breakfast is for empty nesters. And maybe aunties (nobody covets the sauce of their own boring mom).
We did oatmeal as well for a time, and it's still sometimes in the rotation, but I wind up having trouble convincing myself the extra time and pan-soaking (and yes, food waste) makes it a better choice than the nutritionally quite similar yellow box.
Oh for oatmeal you do it overnight in the rice cooker, we used to do that before our kids stopped eating it. Actually the rice cooker is a huge savings in terms of mental load because I don’t have to remember to turn the stove off on my rice or quinoa or kashi or whatever, maybe that’s the true secret of Japanese moms?
'Working [mother]" may more imply part-time work in Japan, but yeah there's a reason why Japanese supermarkets and convienence stores have so many pre-prepared meals available.
"Working" could mean this outside Japan as well!
"Thing we do Here is done way more wisely Elsewhere" (extra points if Elsewhere is as far away as possible) has to be one of the most exhausted tricks in the McWriter's bag. Coming from the same school of thought as "Scarce thing growing Elsewhere has way higher concentration of [faddish substance of the week] than abundant thing we grow Here". Tie it up with a neat ribbon of "Homicidally salty/greasy sauce from Elsewhere is nevertheless totally good for you because Millenarian Wisdom (even though it was invented in 1967 in San Francisco)" and you're good to go.
If the food lifestyle bloggers make the politico-culture lifestyle bloggers feel bad about their food lifestyle then the politico-culture lifestyle bloggers can make the food lifestyle bloggers feel bad about their politico-culture lifestyle, surely? Take heart!
For some reason this article made me think of Dustin Hoffman trying to make breakfast in Kramer v Kramer and Mary trying to raise the most ungrateful kids of all time in Weeds.
My wife and I get up at different times. She always makes herself an Expresso (or cappuccino? I don't otherwise drink coffee and don't know the difference? The one that's la llave with milk and whipped creme and chocolate at the top?) and when I'm home she offers me one (usually accepted but with almond milk). She eats things with it but nothing she has to prep.
My breakfast today = peanut butter and jelly, diet Shasta, naked juice tropical protein smoothie.
Go Cheerios!