Dining Out

• I went to a health education class last week and we watched a Jamie Oliver video on TED.  In the course of becoming almost apoplectic about the state of America's diet, he pointed out that in general, Americans are not passing down a food culture in their homes. 
• The implications are: the next generation won't know how to cook, the next generations won't have family recipes as part of their heritage, and the additive/high fat/high sugar processed food industry will work its insidious way into our health care industry.
• At least, those are the implications to me.
• I know very well how important it is to dine together.  We are guilty of missing the sit-down meal most nights, although at least the kids have and know the ritual of setting the table, saying what they are thankful for, clearing and cleaning afterwards. 
• I did become very, very lax about food preparation, in the course of years-long depression.
• I have unloaded ten boxes- YES, TEN BOXES!- of unneeded kitchen and dining wares, and am amazed at how much easier it is to cook.  Not that I have resurrected a nightly homecooked meal, and not that I have resurrected a weekend shopping and chopping ritual.  But there is hope.
• Meanwhile, dining out at probably a very swank restaurant on Monday night- TOMORROW!- with an old friend.