A New Tradition

Friday nights have been (homemade) pizza and movie nights for...well, years now. It is the one night we don't sit around the table, but gather in the living room to eat (which is pretty special in and of itself), the one night we watch the big-square-time-waster, and the one night that our dinner plates are not beautifully balanced with fruit, vegetables, starches, grains, etc. It's pizza and carrot sticks most nights, with no fruit in sight, and I don't feel guilty about it.

Last week, I got the notion that we ought to have a SATURDAY night tradition too.

The thoughts of fresh fruit and vegetables gets me positively salivating these days, and knowing fresh is always best means you can ALWAYS add more to your diet.

I was thinking about how very soon, our garden would be abundantly yielding delicious goodness in the form of fruits and veggies and that we need to utilize them to their fullest. Canning is great-but fresh is ALWAYS best.

I got to thinking about how minuscule Matt's fruit intake is "HELLO antioxidants! Fiber! Vitamins and Minerals! I am working on him!"

It also occurred to me that Saturday nights, being in preparation for the Sabbath, ought to be set apart...but I didn't really want the dishes to go with it and hours in the kitchen to go with it.

So, as these thoughts churned in my head, I came up with the notion that on Saturday nights we could eat "simply elegant".

Wine with supper.

Bread, cheese, and wine-how can you go wrong?

Hors d'oeuvre-ish type fare, utilizing as much fresh/raw goodness as possible, preferably straight from our garden.

Healthful food, yet set-apart~ foods that are "treats" (cashews, for example, are great source of protein and plenty of wonderful minerals but not something we have often because they are expensive.)

Simple foods that are given elegance by displaying them in a beautiful way (making fruit platters to look like a flower) or by serving them in a special way (strawberries dipped in chocolate or white sugar, anyone?)

The main stipulations: NO SILVERWEAR ALLOWED!! AND Children ought to be able to make their OWN plates~no hot pans to pass, no food to cut up for them.

Saturday was our first trial run and it was a smashing success! The menu:

Pepperoni cheese bread
Sharp cheddar slices (arranged like a flower, by Corynn)
Cantalope wedges (not chunked, like usual)
Cashews
Dark Chocolate (hey, it's HEALTHY!!)
Strawberries with white sugar for dipping
Roasted Asparagus (unanimously, the favorite of the evening!)
Carrot sticks with dip

(A note: The trick is, to have PLENTY of each item and always some fresh bread. We, like many Americans, are not accustomed to JUST eating fruits, veggies and nuts-so to be satiated, there must be enough available for everyone. Having wedges of bread available helps too, for the stick-to-your-ribs portion of the meal.)

We drank water from a pitcher out of our mongrammed glasses and had wine glasses to boot, we used "nice" plates to eat from AND to serve with and yet: the cleanup was A BREEZE! No silverwear to wash and, because nothing was "cooked" on, the plates and cups were cleaned using a quick dip, swipe & done method~ all in all, it took about 6 minutes.

We ate outside on our patio, on a lace-bedecked patio table, overlooking the blossoming apple tree, enjoying the breeze on our faces and the birdsongs in our ears while nibbling on strawberries, chocolate and wine-and then, after a leisurely meal, an even more leisurely night of NOT slaving away cleaning crusty pots and pans.

Now that is MY kind of evening.