Three Meals, Waterloo, IL, Christmas 2025

by Alex Carrigan

I.

I’ve never cooked steaks wrapped in bacon before. My dad pulled them out of the Omaha Steaks gift set he got for his birthday a week earlier and let me season them however I like. He never heard of butter basting, but handed me a stick anyways. He does ask that I use a plastic spoon for it because he doesn’t want to ruin a metal one. However, he relents when the spoon melts in the pan, and now I have another reason to worry I’ll get someone sick. I don’t eat bacon, so I’m left worried they won’t safely crisp up no matter how often I turn the filets. My little brother doesn’t eat any of the steak anyways, and simply watches videos on his tablet during dinner.

II.

I lay out three plates to bread chicken breasts from the gift set. My dad never knew you should pat meat dry before breading it. He always said his chicken looked slimy, so now he knows why. He does ask I don’t use too many eggs for the dredging. He doesn’t want to run out to the store until after Christmas. He also doesn’t notice I added smoked paprika and parmesan to the breading mixture, so I hope he likes that. The chicken comes out of the oven juicy, but a bit opaque. My little brother doesn’t eat any of the chicken anyways, and simply watches videos on his tablet during dinner.

III.

My dad agrees to pat the turkey cutlets dry, but refuses to give me eggs since he’s low. He says we can dredge the turkey with olive oil in a Ziploc. I put less effort into the breading today, but it comes out as pale as yesterday’s chicken, so I doubt it would have made much of a difference. The turkey is dryer than everything else we’ve had all week, so I really have to dip it into my instant mashed potatoes to add some moisture to each bite. My little brother cries the whole meal because our dad took his tablet away so he could be present for Christmas dinner. After three days here, I’m close to crying too.

Alex Carrigan (he/him) is a Pushcart-nominated editor, poet, and critic from Alexandria, VA. He is the author of Now Let’s Get Brunch (Querencia Press, 2023) and May All Our Pain Be Champagne (Alien Buddha Press, 2022).