It's All About the Food, Isn't It?

Yummy lobster roll in Freeport, ME

As I sit here eating my breakfast and start thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner tonight I am struck by the fact that life around here revolves around food!  I just returned from a trip to the States to pick up my daughter and our dog and was treated to 3 days of eating out!  This was a nice little break in the farmhouse life of no eating out!  I did not have to think about what I was going to cook, or how I was going to cook it and I did not have to do dishes...the old fashioned way!  It was a lovely break.  I think we still started thinking about what we were going to eat for dinner while we were eating breakfast though!  Yes, it is all about the food!

One day last week I was struck by how different meals are up here compared to home.  When we sit down to eat, and often there are many of us at the table, we are not distracted by the TV being on or by the events that we have to rush off to after dinner or by people at the table texting and are seldom even interrupted by the phone ringing.  Meals are also often a  communal event.  Since there are no restaurants around we take turns inviting each other over for dinner.  It gives us an excuse to  cook a great meal and in return we get a night off later in the week! 

The conversations at the dinner table up here are far different than those back home.  When was the last time you just lingered at your dinner table and chatted about....  current global events?  Local issues such as when the bridge down the road, which has been under construction for over a year, will be finished?  Whether the local organic farmers are going to make it and how we can support them?  Your long lost relatives and where they are and how they were back in their day?  When will the sun shine again?  We have good conversations around our tables, without distraction most of the time.  It is  a lovely way to spend a couple of hours!  Is it all about the food.....or is it about the meal? 

How long before this can be on my dinner menu? Although I don't even know what it is, I'm just babysitting the garden.

As much as I enjoyed eating out for a few days,  I am really looking forward to the days that I can just go outside to the garden, pick whatever is ripe and create a meal.  This month will be a month of patience as we weed and watch the garden.  The faces around the table will be an ever changing cast of characters and I anticipate the conversations will be as varied as the faces.  The dinner table is one of life's simple pleasures and should be enjoyed, even if you do have to wash the dishes....the old fashioned way!