Home, sweet home

standing in front of a sink full of dirty dishes and steamy hot dish water, i stare lazily out the dark rain spotted windows in front of me. my hands automatically scrub and wipe, rinse and put aside the dishes that are a product of the fantastically large meal that i cooked and just finished eating with my family; dad, sisters, brother, and nephews. i'm visiting at my parents house in Indiana for the weekend because the residential school where i work is on a long weekend break. mom's not here because she's doing some traveling nursing and is currently stationed in Norwalk, CT, but we all got to talk to her on the phone earlier, so it feels like she was here, at least for a little while.
as i scrub chocolate off mixing bowls and cheese sauce off the large stock pot that, about an hour ago, held 2 lbs. of my fantastic home-made macaroni and cheese, i am composing this post in my head...

i find that i often become "chef sarah" when i'm home; my passion for cooking large semi-elaborate meals re-emerges because i actually have people to cook for. today, for a Sunday afternoon family dinner, my nephew, Michael, requested macaroni and cheese (home-made of course!) so macaroni and cheese it was...and for dessert, the flourless chocolate cake that i saw on the food network the other day, mmm, yummy! of course i can't leave the serious meat eaters without a meat option, so i also made some applewood smoked turkey tenderloins that i found in the freezer...they were actually pretty good.

i've come to love weekends like this. sometimes it's hard to leave my space and my day-to-day routine behind, but as soon as i walk through the door of my Indiana home and am greeted by Sid and Nilly (our dogs, a black Labradoodle and a yellow Lab), or my 21 yr. old "little" brother who, in a silly semi-lispy voice, greets me, "hi sissy," i'm right as rain again...because i'm home.