The Besst for today is really two things, and they start several, several weeks ago, when a big styrofoam cooler showed up at the door.

It was a selection of Omaha Steaks, sent to me by my mom, who was making too big of a deal out of the fact that I had taken to doing things like:

– throwing an extra meatloaf in the oven

– browning up some ground beef and throwing in celery and tomatoes

– emptying two bags of meatballs and two jars of sauce into the crockpot

and then bagging the extras up in the FoodSaver and freezing them and taking them out to her house on occasion. No biggie.

I am not one to look a gift steer in the mouth, however, and we have been having wonderful meals thanks to Mom.

So today, I’m on a conference call that’s running long and my cell phone rings at my desk. It’s Cole, and when I call him back, he has one thing to ask:

“Mom, I noticed that there is nothing started for dinner. Can I start something for you?”

A few things about that:

– I had indeed told Dad, Interrupted this morning that I wanted them to cook the Omaha Steaks porkchops for dinner, with a salad. I believe he had not said anything to the boys about that, but that doesn’t matter, because the boys retained one of the key lessons I have been trying to teach them:

– when you’re a grown person (and when you’re a teenaged boy who can operate an oven, you’re a grown person in my book), you do NOT walk into a cold kitchen at 6 pm and ask “What’s for dinner?”

No. What you do is notice both your parents working hard, and so you ask them if there’s something you can start for dinner.

Because that’s what a grown person does.

And that’s what Cole did. He broiled those pork chops, tossed up a salad, and became The Besst of 1/22/13, along with my mother.

© E. Stocking Evans 2013