Tuesday morning throwback to yesterday’s Monday blues dinner — when the start-of-week energy slump hits hard and the home kitchen becomes the comfort venue. Some Mondays the only thing that fixes the mood is a proper home-cooked plate.

Today’s plate:

Hot rice base
Fried egg (sunny-side)
Stir-fried vegetables
Pan-seared protein
A small soup
Chilli sauce on the side

The “Monday blues dinner” framing is the lockdown-era acknowledgement that some Mondays just hit harder than others. The home plate was the small comfort move — same components as any other weeknight dinner, but the act of cooking it slowly and eating it deliberately is the part that resets the mood.

Hot rice base was the standard fluffy jasmine.

Fried egg was the M-style sunny-side. Crispy white edges, runny golden yolk. The yolk-break-over-rice gives the meal its small daily upgrade.

Stir-fried vegetables today were a mix of cabbage and carrot shreds with smashed garlic and a splash of soy.

Pan-seared protein was a small portion of pan-fried sausage rounds — sliced Bratwurst, hit in its rendered fat.

A small bowl of corn-and-egg-drop soup added the warming component. The hot broth and the silky egg ribbons through it are the kind of small soup that resets the appetite when you’ve been having a rough day.

Chilli sauce on the side as always.

The kitchen counter is the venue where Monday afternoon stress goes to die. Slow cooking, slow eating, slow conversation with BB about whatever isn’t work — the small home rituals are the ones that pull you out of the start-of-week slump.

Lockdown taught us that cooking your own dinner is one of the better forms of self-care. Phase 2 reopening hadn’t changed that.

Overall: 4.2 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Monday blues dinner — the home plate did its job.

Original IG post