Squeeze Play

 "We're having fish fry," I announced to Heidi, "and salad for dinner." 

I thought it might cheer her up after a tough day at work, and it seemed to. Even so, when she went upstairs, I calculated how long it might take were I to add another item to the menu. We had everything we needed for a small batch of Heidi's mom's potato salad recipe ( a favorite comfort food), but time was a consideration, too.

I put on a pot of water with an egg in it to boil and peeled the potatoes. Then I diced the celery and a little onion and placed them in a bowl. I added a splash of cider vinegar and some salt to give them a quick pickle before turning to the fridge. There, I gathered squeeze bottles of dill relish, sweet relish, sour cream, mustard, and mayonnaise. They were in the bowl and back in the refrigerator in less than a minute, a testament to their convenience.

I diced the potatoes and put them in the pot with the egg. Six minutes later, both were cooked. I drained the potatoes and put a dish towel over them to steam a bit, then I ran the egg under cold water, peeled and chopped it. The final step was tossing it all together.

Elapsed time? Fifteen minutes.

"You made potato salad?" Heidi asked happily when she came back down from her shower. "Thank you!"

"No problem!" I answered, and it was true.