When she was pregnant, my partner Caitlin asked me if I could do something to make the day of our son’s birth special. We both knew the day would carry its own significance on its own, but I knew what she meant. We were planning a home birth, so I decided that I’d get a deli tray to celebrate.

A deli tray may not sound that special, but there was no way I was going to overshadow the birth anyway, and sliced turkey had been the most common topic of conversation thoughout the pregnancy, so I knew it would be well received. We ended up having a hospital birth and spending seven full days in the hospital, and coordinating artfully arranged sliced meat didn’t happen, but one of the first things I did after we got home was go to the store and buy all the food Caitlin couldn’t eat while pregnant, and then promptly made her her first meal:

You can get pretty fancy of course, but for Caitlin a turkey sandwich is comfort food to be served on rye bread with Hellmann’s mayonnaise and maybe a pinch of salt — nothing else. With bonus points if it’s cut into weird peices.

Plus rolled up pieces of sliced turkey, ham, and salami have been favorite snacks, so they’re good to have in the house. You might (successfully) argue that making a sandwich isn’t cooking, but it counts for something.