tater tot casserole

a local restaurant posted a new menu item today: tater tot casserole. their version is: 
cream sauce with sirloin steak, onions, and mushrooms. covered with tater tots and topped with white cheddar and chives.

i laughed, perhaps a little too hard at this.

yes, green bean casserole is funny to me.

well, it is now.

100 years ago (2001) when i was married, it was not quite as funny.

a tater tot casserole was one of the biggest fights of my marriage.

now, while the restaurant version does sound admittedly fancier than mine, mine is solid comfort food: hamburger, cream of chicken soup (i'm allergic to mushrooms), green beans, topped with tater tots.

simple, fast, delicious.

or so i thought.

apparently, some people have VERY STRONG opinions about adding green beans to a tater tot casserole.

VERY STRONG.

yell at you for hours on end about what a failure of a wife, cook, mother, human being you are for putting green beans in the tater tot casserole strong.

absolutely screaming, yelling, furious.

over green beans.

well, as angry as some people get, i get stubborn.

months later when i moved out for the first time, my mother and friends came to help pack and leave (we did it in 4 hours while he was at work for safety).

as my mother was cleaning out my kitchen, she checked the fridge and was HORRIFIED, beyond horrified, to find said casserole STILL IN THE FRIDGE. holy shit the lecture she gave me.

then i told her why it was still there and she quietly placed it back on the shelf and shut the door.

you want to lectured me? rail at me? denounced me for as a terrible mother and housekeeper?

that's fine.

yell at me for never cooking, being a terrible cook when i do, and never taking care of my people?

ok. fine.  

THERE'S THE FUCKING CASSEROLE THAT PROVES OTHERWISE.

EN. FUCKING. JOY.

there's a reason and a purpose for everything i do. EVERYTHING.

even leaving a fucking tater tot casserole in the fridge for months on end.

i'm still not a fan of cooking, all these years later.

and i've made tater tot casserole maybe once in the last 18+ years. 

yes. i'm stubborn. and petty. and i can hold a grudge like a motherfucker.

i know i sometimes pick the wrong battles. i know i can be way too bull headed over the simplest things.

i also know that i will defend myself, stand up for myself. hold my ground.

even over damn green beans in a casserole.