Frozen Vegetables Are Still Vegetables

Yowzas, five months is a stretch. 

...Hai. 

How are you? Splendid Winter season, I trust? Happy Spring feelings? Allergies kicking you in the tush? Yes, yes, yes, same here. 

You know what I was thinking about today? Frozen vegetables. I don't think they get enough credit. "Oh, you use frozen and not fresh produce? HUURRRRRRHHHHH." Their eyes drift the the heavens; the slightest touch of drool in the right corner of their mouths. The drool, they are either oblivious to or pretend doesn't exist, because in these imaginary, snooty people's lives, there are no flaws.

Perfection: the illusive, unattainable beast of a goal. 

Having an abundance of fresh produce to buy and cook before spoilage may be my intention, (it makes me stabby to toss food in the garbage, organic or otherwise), but you know what? Life happens and menus don't always go as planned. 

Enter this evening's conundrum. The chicken drumsticks meant for buffalo flavored goodness had yet to thaw all the way through. Crap. Our other options? Take-out, something involving beans, or quiches. Well, the hubby had bean burritos for lunch, so them magical fruits were removed from list. I'd be a lying son of a gun if I wasn't crossing my fingers for take-out. Not that my expanding bottom or our wallets would benefit from such a thing. Tonight was one of those frequent nights where I wasn't in the mood to exercise my culinary creativity. Alas, the hub voted for quiches. Fooey.

Had I not had frozen veggies on hand, dinner prep would not have gone as smoothly. Quick saute of sliced onions, plop in a bag of peppers, then add to frozen pie crusts with a mixture of cheeses, eggs, almond milk (shush, you), and seasoning. BOOM, two quiches in the oven to feed my family of five. All my kids ate vegetables tonight, somebody chest bump me. 

In a perfect world the vegetables would have been organic, fresh, and from my own impeccably tended garden, and I would've been able to use enormous amounts of cheddar and heavy cream, with zero nausea-inducing, cholesterol-raising effects.

It not about perfection. It's about doing your best with what you have, right now, in this moment. 

So...

*traces path on table with index finger*

'Member, remember that Six Week Spec I was writing back in November? Yeaaaaaah I'm still working on it. 

"Ohhh, still working on your first screenplay are you? HHHUUUUUURRRRHHHHH."

I wince mightily at the delay, but self-imposed writing deadlines, just like dinner menus, don't always go as planned. In a perfect world I'd have a structured writing routine despite the unpredictable-ness of my three-year old daughter's sleeping habits and my husband's over-night, over-time opportunities. I'd have comedy gold and spot on dialogue spewing from my finger tips in the first draft. I wouldn't allow doubt and fear of sucking ass-balls on my first feature length screenplay deter me from writing in my own voice. I would've stopped myself from editing as I write MUCH, MUCH sooner. 

It's not a perfect world, but frozen vegetables are still vegetables and a first rough draft is still a rough draft. 

Am I the writer I will be five specs from now? Five years from now? Gosh I hope not, but I'm doing the best with what I have, right now, in this moment. 

Sometimes I don't give myself enough credit.