The Extended Summer Break

In F1 there is a tradition of the “summer break.” For four weeks, there are no races, and there is even a total work stoppage for 2 weeks, where no team is allowed to do ANY work whatsoever.

Sounds nice to me.

So allow me to be generous and say that I’ve been on an extended “summer break” with posting (and for cooking) for the F1 cookbook. Kind of like Andrea Kimi Antonelli* and Bernd Maylander** at the Monza practice sessions last weekend, my life went cataclysmically sideways. As much as I enjoy F1 and researching race location-related food (and often even cooking it), my priorities shifted to Survival Mode: take care of family, take care of self (eat, sleep, try not to be a terrible human), and binge as much comfort television as possible.***

The good news is that life seems to be calming down (the calm before the next storm?), and I did manage some brief moments to re-embrace the F1 Cookbook:

Montreal (June 9): I made poutine, eh! Who doesn’t love potatoes and gravy and cheese? (The fried egg on top was a nod to it being breakfast time.)

Budapest (July 21): Comfort food FTW, which meant Hungarian Mac ‘n Cheese, aka Túrós Csusza (Pasta with Cottage Cheese). Seemed a little odd, but it was simple, tasty, and definitely on the comfort food spectrum. (I have no idea why I have a glass of water included in the photo.)

Zaandvoort (August 25): A friend (with a Dutch husband) mentioned that Costco now sells completely-acceptable-to-the-Dutch-husband Dutch pancakes (Poffertjes), even if the box says “Belgian.” I will say that the tasty little treats heat nicely in an air fryer. (Accompaniments include yogurt, berries, and strong coffee.)

As for the races themselves, can I say what a crazy season this has been so far? And I don’t think the crazy is going to end any time soon. It is to my utter delight that Red Bull is not dominating the field anymore, and that there is an honest-to-goodness competition for the constructors championship, and for the drivers championship****.

Then there is the matter of the soap opera that is the behind-the-scenes scrambling for securing contracts with drivers for next season. Here’s hoping that Audi signs Valtterri Bottas (and his mustache), and that Red Bull comes to their senses and drops Sergio Perez and promotes Daniel Ricciardo to the 2nd seat. But time will tell.

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*There is only one Kimi in F1, and that Kimi is Raikonnen.

**When the safety car “finds the barrier” on the track, you’ve got to wonder what’s wrong with the track. Because Bernd is an amazing driver.

***Which for me meant Jane the Virgin and Bridgerton — which I fully realize in many respects are on complete opposite sides of the televised spectrum.

****Now if only McLaren will realize that they have a chance of winning it all, and that MAYBE considering having a strategy might behoove them…