What's for Dinner?

In the course of human events it becomes necessary to dream up, concoct, plan for or decide upon what’s for dinner.  Just the thought of it can bring a grown man to tears.  The worldliest woman’s heart can palpitate equivalent to the hummingbirds when the topic is encountered.  Even the most resourceful can be brought to their knees occasionally when the mind draws a blank on the subject of satisfying the palate.

Selection of entree, side dish, salad and dessert of this daily culinary event for your loved ones is a constant test of one's imagination and perseverance.  If you realize that the primary chef in your household must decide at the crack of dawn and before breakfast as to what the family will be hungering for dinner, 10-12 hours later, it is awe-inspiring.  The fact that ingredients for a full meal may have had to been bought days earlier in expectation of the perspective taste buds is a tribute to the methodical mind.  Those of us that tend to wing it because of the influx of last minute “mom duties” pay homage to the frozen food section and the quick and easy (you just know there was a higher power involved when Hamburger Helper was introduced to the masses and the microwave should be held in the highest regard).

I religiously scan cookbooks, magazines and websites in search of the latest taste sensation, something that, yet easy, will titillate the senses.  I systematically toss out those recipes that don’t supply pictures of what the end product should look like.  There is a comfort in seeing first what is possible with what reads like the ingredients to a third grade science experiment and could garner the same results.  I like to live dangerously, but when it comes to feeding time, I hedge my bets and usually stick with a known entity.  As a word of caution, and it may seem obvious to some, always confirm that the picture you see coincides with the recipe in question.  I spent four hours trying to create this fabulous gastronomic delight to look just like page 89 when much to my chagrin the corresponding picture to my recipe was really on page 92.

And, that is the other thing… the amount of effort put into the planning and preparing of the daily dinner and the actual time of consumption of said food.  The ratio has to be at least 30:1 (even worse for holiday feasts).  Americans are notorious for gobbling down their food – confirmed with the increased presence of advertisements filling the airwaves discussing reflux disorder, indigestion and relief from gas.  If we took time to savor these cornucopias of cuisine, relax and reassess the highlights of the day with our dining partner, the many hours of toil and task may take on a fresh significance and enhance the overall experience.

It is a difficult challenge to conjure what should be for dinner every evening of every day of every month of each and every year.  Knowing that you can’t gratify and satisfy everyone in your fold all the time, one of the best fall back plans, when all else fails and your creative juices forget to flow, is what my mom taught me years ago how to make… reservations.  It is quick, easy and bound to fulfill the basic primal instincts of your most demanding critics and a night off of dinner duty is a most agreeable prelude to what may be dreamed up for another day and another dining delight.  Bon appetit!

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life. Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-