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| Mom never stops being your mother |
With New Year's Resolutions still in draft mode, it's a little bit true that I'm cutting my mental fat with a healthy positive attitude about home, food and family.
Life isn't easy, is it? A lot of people struggle with their weight, health and money. The country seems divided. The world is being terrorized. I get out of breath from people's impatience, intolerance and dissatisfaction, let alone the collapse of morals and morale. I'd like to get back to basics, and that's starts with home, food and family.
When it comes to food, do you eat at the table? Do you lap-hold your dinner plate while watching a TV show? Don't tell me you're one of those guys who eat standing over the kitchen sink. There are benefits to sitting down at the table for a nice meal.When eating a meal on a table... the "table" can be any number of things from a dining room table, in-the-kitchen table, folding table, TV tables, pedestal table and chairs, picnic table with benches.
There's the coffee table that sits in front of the sofa, the carry table tray with for breakfast in bed, but you know what I'm referring to, don't you?
It seems like a lot of bother and why bother to set a nice table at home for the dinner meal.
Through good and not-so-good times, making a habit of sitting down at the table, by yourself or together with family and those you care about, has life-long benefits.
You enjoy a meal sitting up and your food is digested easier.
You have the opportunity to discuss the events of the day, share thoughts, tell stories, learn something about each other that perhaps you didn't know. That's what family dining is all about.
I don't know one woman who wouldn't absolutely love to come home to a nicely set dinner table. Men, too, and children love sharing their day over a nice meal at the table when they feel together as a family.
There is no down side to eating at the table.
It's easy to forget how to set a nice table with flatware, glassware, plates, napkins, even a tablecloth and candles -- especially, if when growing up, your family didn't eat at the table very often.
Every household should "think thin" about the evening meal. I mean eat without the clutter. Turn off the TV, put away the texting and telephoning, laptop computer, games and magazine, work papers, newspaper, mail.
Make the evening meal a natural habit, expected, a rule, a good thing to want to be together without all the noise. It really does make a difference in relationships.
Here's how to set the table
The typical way to set a casual dinner table is with one dinner fork and one salad fork, one spoon, and one knife: the forks sit left of the dinner plate, the spoon and dinner knife on the right. There's a dinner plate, sometimes a separate plate or bowl for the salad, and sometimes a small plate for bread and butter.
Now, there are a lot more pieces to formal dinner parties, but these few are right for everyday casual.
Most people today know that when eating, you choose the outer flatware first. The table is set that way, because it jives with what "courses" are served to guests in what order.
I put the napkin under the fork on the left side of the plate, but the napkin can be placed on the plate or to the left of the fork (rather than under it). It can even be folded to hold the flatware. Many people fold napkins different ways or use a napkin ring.
Some cooks set the table with paper plates and cups, plasticware and paper napkins. It's quick and simple to toss disposable paper and plastic goods in the trash after the meal is done. Clean up is easy, and there's less use of the dishwasher. It works sometimes.
Keep in mind that paper and plastic are the largest components of municipal solid waste in the U.S., filling up more than 40% of our landfills. Apparently, last year, over half of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, which means that over 51 million tons of paper is being recovered for recycling each year.
The basic thought here is to stop, take a breath, de-clutter your life for a hour: Eat at the table if and when you can.
No matter where you eat, how you eat, what kind of table you prefer, make it special. Life really is brief. Do whatever you can to balance today with tomorrow. Share. Exchange thoughts and ideas. Be a "You" person. Help the people you care about feel special everyday. Make every meal a wonderful memory.