Cremona's Kitchen

I grew up in a home where every night the whole family sat down for dinner.  It was our time to reconnect, check in, and enjoy my mom’s great cooking.  I never questioned this ritual.  I thought everyone grew up this way.  Still, I resisted any invitation from my mother to actually learn to cook.  I could make fudge (somehow I have the gift of making sugar dissipate), but I never experimented in the kitchen.

So when it was time for college, I sustained on a solid diet of Special K, Captain Crunch, and eating out.  Sushi from Target was a weekly staple.  When friends came to visit,  we would try out a new happy hour.  In fact, staying in and cooking a meal together never crossed our minds.  I really am not sure why either.  My parents are fairly social so I grew up around dinner parties and cookouts.  Yet when it was my turn to entertain guests, I took them out for burgers.  All this eating out was expensive.  And while I made an effort to make healthy selections, all of these meals could be prepared with healthier substitutes at home.  I was becoming more removed from knowing what food I was putting into my body.

And I am tired of being reliant on trendy restaurants for my sustenance.  I don’t want to yell over loud music during a conversation with my friends.  I don’t want to feel restricted to talking only to the people to the left and right of me at a table.  I say bring back the dinner parties.  The home cooked meals.  I want to earn the food I am putting into my body.  Know what ingredients went into my meal.  I think it’s time for me to work for my calories.  It’s time for a change in how we think about dinner time with our family and friends.

Let’s start eating in.