Photo of the Week – 09/30/09 – Caprese Salad
Summer's Final Hurrah!
Quote of the Week – 9/30/09
“To become a cook you only need a few essentials: appetite, ingredients, a kitchen to work in, a few tools, and a few ideas about what to cook. But which comes first? Appetite, perhaps: the one thing that all the people I know who love to cook have in common is that they love to eat-and the desire to eat good food is what motivated them to become good cooks.” – Alice Waters in “The Art of Simple Food”
Am I the Last Soccer Mom to Believe in Family Dinners?
I'm a soccer mom despite my inclinations.
This is Louisa’s third year playing travel soccer. It’s a huge time commitment, and in hindsight I would pause before making it again. But she loves the game, she’s good at it, and her entire friendship circle revolves around the girls on this team. My problem, I know.
This year she has a new coach because she qualified for the “A” team. This coach has no problem extending an already late practice (6:00 – 7:30pm), fifteen to 20 minutes later so that she can talk to them. So when I go to get Louisa after her practice, I will often leave dinner waiting for the finishing touches or sitting in the oven to serve when we get home. And usually my plans are foiled and we either eat an overcooked meal, or much later than I’d like. So I’d like to know whether I’m the only parent out there that still cares about family meals?
I could feed Louisa, Annie and myself before her practice at 5:00. But that would be like an after school snack since she doesn’t get home until almost 4:00. And if I did that, Joe wouldn’t be able to eat with us. I could also make the food a takeout or prepared food meal – but three nights a week? Not for my palate. That’s why I’m constantly frustrated trying to figure out how to serve a good dinner that we can eat together as a family. I’ve discussed this before on this site, but I’m not looking for that solution today.
No, what I want to know is whether I’m the only soccer parent that cares about family meals? That cares about eating together as a family? That wants to eat better than takeout food? Because Louisa’s coach obviously doesn’t care about her family’s dinner time. And I don’t hear any of the other parents complaining about this broken up dinner hour.
So am I the last soccer mom protesting this insane world where kids’ sports take priority over family time? Or have families given up on the dinner hour, and accept a hot dog eaten together as a family at the weekly game a reasonable substitute?