Rainy Days and Meatloaf

Maybe it’s a Midwest thing.  Maybe it’s just a weird thing.  Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a “thing” until my daughter brought it up.

So, here’s the thing.  I don’t typically cook meals that I consider to be overly hot in the months of June, July and August, give or take a few weeks. Things like spaghetti, chili, lasagna or any casseroles that need to be baked in the oven.  It has always been this way at our house.

There is a loophole, however, in this set of rules.  And that is this, if it rains, anything goes.  All bets are off.  Meaning that we could have a piping hot meatloaf in July.  If it rains.  Or, a big bowl of steaming chili in August.  If it rains.  My logic, like my mother’s and her mother’s before her, is really quite simple.  If it’s hot outside we don’t want to make a meal that heats up the house or just seems too heavy for the summer months.  When it rains, though, it seems cooler and hot meals become more appealing.

My family never thought this was out of the ordinary and no one ever questioned my authority on the subject.  That is until my daughter started dating a young man whose family practiced otherwise.  I’ll never forget the hot July evening she came home and announced “Mom, I just had meatloaf for dinner! And it’s not even raining!”  

I could tell that she was shaken to the core.  That the very foundation she had been raised upon was in question.  Her beliefs about what to serve and when to serve it had been tested.  She was left not knowing what to think.  She continued incredulous “They eat all kinds of things when it’s hot.  Spaghetti.  Meatloaf. You name it!”  And then without hesitation, she said “Mom, I don’t think this is really a thing.”

So is it a thing or not?  I’m not sure.  I polled some of my coworkers the other day.  A handful of them supported me.  Others picked up their lunches and moved a couple of seats farther away at the lunch table.  It seems that the lines aren’t clearly defined.  I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourself.