Comfort Food: Buttery & Chewy Pretzels with Cheesy Italian Meatballs

And my thoughts on coping with changes

Hello blog universe! Long time no see.

Sorry for my brief absence, its been a crazy week last week.

A "news" broke in our rather ordinary life and we were sent into a tailspin of emotions as we tried to understand the situation and prepare ourselves for what might be coming.

It's not a life or death situation, so do NOT worry.

Having said that, there will be some major changes coming our way and I am not sure if we would love them...

But life is about changes, isn't it?

So much of maturity is the ability to navigate life's changes with resilience, to learn to bend without breaking and to remain hopeful when there is not much clarity in the horizon.

I am not particularly good with changes, but I am good at making meatballs.

And at times when my family needs comfort, I feed them carbs.

It ALWAYS helps.

Nothing beats a buttery and chewy pretzel that came straight out of the oven.

Got bad feelings in the air?

Fill it with the buttery aroma of freshly baked pretzels instead.

I reckon staying optimistic during uncertain times is like making pretzels.

You cannot see clearly what's happening in the oven and you are not allowed to peek.

So you stare patiently and faithfully, hoping that the pretzels will turn out crispy on the outside and soft and chewy inside.

But even if they don't, you know you will still be OK.

Because you had managed through under baked, over proved, flat lifeless breads before and you will make it through this time as well.

Thankfully, my pretzels turned out so good my son and husband only left me with 2 pretzels from the 7 that I made.

As I got older in life, I think I have learned to cope with changes a little bit better.

What helps me is the realisation that life IS full of ups and downs.

It's supposed to be this way.

And as much as we do not want to admit, we have no control over life's biggest plot twists, even if it may feel like we do.

But it doesn't mean that life is scary or depressing.

As the nature of change also means "what goes down, must come up".

I also choose to believe that everything happens for a reason, for a good reason, even if we do not see it at the moment.

I don't know if this is true. But I know it makes me feel good.

I have learned to do myself a favour by letting go of the need to control.

The moment you let go, you drop the compulsive analysing, anticipating and planning of back up plan a, b, c, d, e and f (seriously, you can do without plan c, d, e and f).

You make an uncomfortable moment more tolerable by giving yourself a bit breathing room.

And the most important thing is "perspective".

I often remind myself that as long as my family is healthy and well, and that we get to stay together as a unit, we are blessed and we will be OK in the end.

If its not OK, its not the end.

So just like the previous times, we will wait patiently and faithfully for the story to unfold....

And for now, we will focus on the fact that we are sitting here together at the dining table, getting to double dip our pretzels in the the tomato sauce because we are family.