The Family That Eats Together

I don't go out very often these days. For one thing, going out with four boys is more than just a little bit of work, timing everything around naps and meals. For another thing, since the proliferation of legos in our house, there doesn't seem to be the need or desire to do anything but play legos. However, I had the opportunity to hit up a huge sale at bop in Madison and Mom was willing to watch the kids. It turned out to be a total waste of time, not that I didn't find some incredible deals, but after asking myself if I really needed any of said finds and realizing I didn't, I left (after waiting in line for 2 hours) and ended up with nothing but a parking ticket. This, of course, was very upsetting. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but we have paid the city of Madison at least $1,000 in parking tickets since we moved here 4 1/2 years ago. I think they recognize my car, think to themselves, "suckah" and hang around waiting for my meter to expire, knowing I won't make it out in time. Unnecessary expenses like parking tickets really upset me so suffice it to say I was in a bit of a foul mood the rest of the day, that is until dinner. The day before mom arrived, our chef friend Joel and his wife and kids came over for dinner, bringing some incredible local highland beef for sliders. Mom made the leftover meat from Fountain Prairie Farms into burgers, we had local feta and 2 year white cheddar from Hook's Cheese with all the usual condiments.
Ryan made hand cut homemade french fries with sea salt from mom's potatoes as well as a pound of fried cheese curds.

The grill was still hot after dinner so I cut peaches in half, sprinkled them with sugar and melted butter and grilled them for about 5 minutes, cut side down. We filled the middle with fresh whipped cream for a perfect dessert after such a heavy dinner.
At dinner, Ryan added up the cost of a meal like that eating out and it was well over the $20 parking ticket, so I suddenly felt much better about that. But more than the money was the pleasure of us all working together to make dinner- Mom putting together the condiment plate while Ryan fried the potatoes and curds. I prepped the peaches while the boys set the table. Talking and laughing all the while and then sitting down to enjoy the fruits of our collaborative effort. I hope that when the boys are grown up, making and eating food together is one of their strongest memories.