The Miracle of the Kitchen Table

Recently my hubs and I got on a kick of NOT eating in front of the TV at night for dinner and have moved to the kitchen table.

I know, I'm sure most of you eat at your tables, but it's new to us.

When we lived in our apartment, we ate at the kitchen table, because it was easy and convenient. When we moved to our house 6 years ago, that table went to the dining room and that room became a catch all for coats, bags, mail and shoes. Not a place to enjoy dinner. And since we had no kitchen table for a very long time, we took up dinner residence in front of the television in the family room. And there we stayed for 5 years - even once we got a kitchen table.

So when we did a big house cleaning before Labor Day when my mom was coming to town, I suggested we try eating at the kitchen table for a week and then the week she was here, just to keep mess out of the family room. Well wouldn't you know, a month later, we're STILL eating dinner at the kitchen table! And when I suggest eating in front of the TV on a Friday night or something, it gets an emphatic 'NO' from the hubs.

Eating at the table has been really good for us. We're both extremely busy. Our schedules don't mesh in the morning so it's a quick goodbye as he's walking out the door and I'm heading to get ready for work. We both work long, busy days and send a mere 'Good Morning, I love you' email and that's about it. In the evenings, I hit the gym or work late or run errands. And well, he works until 7 or later every night and has a 45 minute commute - so you do the math. It's usually 7:30 - 9:00 before we sit down for dinner at night - and that's our first real time together all day.

When we'd eat at the TV, we wouldn't even talk. Now that meal time happens at the table, we're sharing more, talking more, laughing a lot. And instead of just sitting and eating quickly and heading to the TV, we're taking our time and chatting and some nights an hour or more goes by before we get up to do the dishes.

So while this is great for us and we're eating better and more mindfully and enjoying our time together, what does this mean for you, my blog readers?

It means I am rarely taking pictures of food anymore. I don't keep the camera at the kitchen table, or usually in the kitchen, so most nights, pictures are forgotten. But it doesn't mean we're not cooking, eating and enjoying great food.

So even though not all of my recipes now have pictures, try them. I don't post things we don't like or stand by or don't want to make again. So stay loyal, pictures or not. The food is still good!