Sunday Suppers
When I was in my twenties, I would fantasize about being a mother and I always pictured myself pulling a roast out of the oven and feeding my hungry family. But in reality, I’m far from doing that. I have a hub who is rarely home for dinner and when he is home, a roast would not be something he’d eat. I have a vegetarian daughter and I have a son who will eat meat and potatoes but prefers the meat and the potatoes to be prepared by a fast food restaurant, not by his mother.
When my dad’s older brother Pablo was alive, he would always expect his four kids and their families to be at his house for dinners on Sundays. I loved that about their family. They would all be busy and living life but they stopped to join each other on Sundays. It’s EXACTLY how the family in the TV show Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck gathers every single episode. Except my uncle’s family didn’t sit around a table, say Grace and talk about NYPD current events. Nonetheless, it was a Sunday ritual and I admired both families for it.
When I learned that there was such a thing as National Sunday Supper Day, I immediately wanted to know more about it. I’ve been on this big quest to bring my family together more and so I think this national day will be super helpful in adding some quality family time into our weekly schedules. Here’s what I learned by logging on to the website NationalDayCalendar.com:
“National Sunday Supper Day encourages families to gather around the table, enjoy a meal and a conversation together each year on the second Sunday in January.
Isabel Laessig is the founder of the Sunday Supper Movement and the Food and Wine Conference. A mother of four, she was inspired to start her blog, Family Foodie, when her oldest left for college and the things she would miss most about home would be the times spent in the kitchen and around the table with family.
In 2012 Laessig and eight other bloggers and their families celebrated the first virtual Sunday Supper with a progressive dinner. According to Laessig, she and these eight bloggers are “passionate about bringing families together to cook and eat together.”
If you’re looking for Sunday Supper ideas, look no further than 9 Ways to Sunday Supper.”
I wonder if the founder, Isabel, wanted this national day to be celebrated on the second Sunday of January because she knew having it fall on the the first week of a new year would be too tough. It’s a lot of pressure for us to start eating healthy on January 1st when there are still family events, football games and no one has the time to prepare something healthy because we are just getting past Christmas Eve and Christmas. Instead, we could start eating heathy the second week of the new year and kick it off with a Sunday Supper. I think it’s smart to have realistic expectations for the new year and more importantly, I think it’s great to start off the new year with a resolution that involves family. So thank you Isabel for this national day; I am grateful that we have another reason to celebrate every day.
My MIL has been giving me recipe books for decades. I think cookbooks are her favorite thoughtful pinches that she likes to give. I have pulled out some of those cookbooks plus I also have some Dinner Doulas recipes that would be great for National Sunday Supper Day. I will choose a recipe and try to prepare some things ahead of time so that I’m not faced with going to the grocery store at 5pm on Sunday and cooking under pressure. Since I have been having my son choose some recipes that he would want to try, I will ask him what he would want to eat to celebrate National Sunday Supper Day. Believe it or not, lately he has been choosing recipes that I never thought he would want to try. Small victories for a mom who has a picky eater.
Usually on Sundays, for home games, we host big family suppers but not in the sense of formal sit down dinners. It’s more like 10-15 guests who come back to the house after a home game and share a meal with us buffet-style before they head to their hotels for the night. For these big dinners I hire Chef Dan. He has everything set up so that when we walk into the house, we just start eating. It’s quite a treat but most of all, since it is all prepared, it allows me the chance to be present for our dinner guests. Thank you Chef Dan!
Btw, I don’t think the spirit of National Sunday Supper Day would be lost if ordering take out or hiring Chef Dan is the most efficient way to get the meal on the table. I think the two premises of this national day were: 1. to have conversations around the dinner table and 2. be together. We shouldn’t let the actual meal be the show stopper if we can’t prepare it from scratch.
As mentioned, I am looking for ways to bring my family together and if supper doesn’t do it, then nothing will. I completely relate to families who are busy; ours is especially busy during the football season. However, there is something about , “A family who eats together, stays together.” Breaking bread with family, neighbors and friends seems too simple to be anything but it is BIG. In my opinion, the more simple the process, the better. Because if we can successfully eat one Sunday supper together, then we can aim for another and pretty soon it adds up and the ritual, tradition, routine is built. Then before we know it, we have meaningful family time. I hope you are able to celebrate National Sunday Supper Day on January 8th this year. May your meal be memorable!
Pinches,
Barb
