Slow Food

I'm all for the slow food movement. Maybe it's because my family ate dinner together every night, at a table, with real food. Or, maybe it's because I have a lot of fun eating and socializing. Either way, It's a good thing.



Matt and I had some friends over for a nice, autumn evening meal the other night and it was so nice. He's in grad school, so can fortunately spend an afternoon at home reading and writing while cooking a meal. He made Beef Daube Provencal, which is a heavenly beef stew, french style. We made a simple salad with greens, goat cheese and sliced cherry tomatoes. Our second course was the Daube over a slice of peasant bread, and to finish it off, we had an apple cinnamon carrot crumb cake. h-e-a-v-e-n.

We love cooking together, but often just scavenge the cupboards and fridge to make an odd combination we sometimes call dinner. (well, we've got some pickles and ham, let's make some ham pickle rolls...way better than it sounds if you've never tried it.....oh yeah, and some sourdough? Let's have buttered toast...oh yeah, and an apple for dessert.) We love eating, but sometimes we don't give it much thought.

Having our nice slow food dinner with our friends, at our dining room table (versus the kitchen island) with the table set, centerpieces and all, made me realize that we don't do that enough. Yes, it's a lot of work, but I found myself holding out in the afternoon, waiting for our nice dinner.



So that's when I came up with the idea of the slow food challenge! Here's how it works:

For one week, I will eat each and every meal (and snack) at a table. No sipping tea at my computer. No grabbing a fiber bar on the way to the gym, and certainly no eating dinner on the couch while watching the office. AND each night, Matt and I will eat at our dining room table, with the table set before the meal, as simple as it may be, and eat. together.

This might just be the best way to break my plateau. :)