Dinner on the Sofa

As a general rule growing up, our family always ate dinner at the table. Everyone had their seat (beware certain wrath if you sit in the wrong one). We would sit down together and pray over our food, tell everyone about the best and worst parts of our day, and stay at the table until we were excused. In a house full of 8+ people, dinnertime was sometimes our only moment in a busy day to really enjoy each others company--or engage in hour-long shouting matches... You can decide which to paint your ideal picture of my family with. Nevertheless, dinner with my family has always been my favorite part of the day. From a young age I have donned an apron and helped my mom in the kitchen, eventually sharing the duty of preparing family meals. My mother has taught me all that I know about food, love, and life in our kitchen. It is with these fond memories that I prepared my first meal living on my own. Who knew it was harder to make only enough food for two or three servings as opposed to eight or ten? Flying solo at dinner time was a whole new world of freedom, loneliness, and questions of how I would ever finish the leftovers (thanks Garredith for helping me out there). So here's to new memories in my own kitchen and to all of the old memories that will fill my recipes forever.