Eating Well

The wooden Jesus statue in the back watching over my sauce.[/caption] Years later things have improved and I actually enjoy cooking our evening meal.  There’s something about the chopping and stirring and smelling the food come together that is really soothing to me.  Especially on a night like tonight when I’m using the tomatoes we grew out back and garlic given by my sister-in-law.  It makes me stop and think about how glad I am that the tomatoes FINALLY just gotten ripe after the mild, rainy spring and how much I like getting food gifts from my brother and sister-in-law’s farm.  Sometimes that stopping to think is about half the battle in living a more centered, less crazed life.  It takes me from my racing, distracted brain and puts me right in the middle of the moment I’m in and how nice those tomatoes and that garlic smell once they meld together in the pan. Don’t get me wrong.  There are still nights when the kids are fighting, the sauce burn, and bad, angry words slip from my mouth even with Jesus right there watching.  But then there are those nights when things just come together.  When the food is done the family gathers around the table and we talk about our day, or read a funny comic aloud, or just stare silently out the window at the birds in the feeder.  On these nights as the sun sets on our empty dishes I know that we have truly eaten well, even if it was just hotdogs and kraft mac-n-cheese on the menu. Do you have a favorite meal time ritual that centers you?  Or a simple action that turns even ramen into something special and sacred?]]>