At the grocery store yesterday I found a freshly made salsa pineapple mango and thought I would try it with dinner tonight.  The ingredients are mango, pineapple, onion, cilantro, habanero peppers, jalapeño, salt, lime juice, and lemon.  Um, I ate it for breakfast.  I just sat there and ate it straight until I looked down in disbelief that it was all gone.  It was so delicious and already prepared.  I have found it is increasingly difficult to do prep work for dinner.  I no longer peel garlic; I just buy the organic minced in a jar.  Sometimes the time preparing can mean the difference between having a real dinner and just saying OK everyone has to fend for themselves.  My mother cooked every meal from scratch and I remember how much Daddy appreciated it.  I think my husband feels the same way; his love language seems to be food.  😉  My daughter likes to set the table and we do not have phones out during dinner.  A couple of wolfies under the table and cats eyeing us from the piano maybe but no iPads or newspapers either.  Some days though I just can’t swing it and we eat leftovers or get take out.  Sometimes our schedules don’t permit and we cannot eat together.  I am striving to be better about preparing before hand to maximize our time and also to maintain a better routine.  I would much rather be sitting with my family with dinner already done than in the kitchen rushing to finish it.

“In truth a family is what you make it.  It is made strong, not by number of heads counted at the dinner table, but by the rituals you help family members create, by the memories you share, by the commitment of time, caring, and love you show to one another, and by the hopes for the future you have as individuals and as a unit. ~ Author Marge Kennedy 

So I am going back to the grocery store for more of that fabulous salsa — this time to marinate with chicken breasts.  I have no idea what’s for dinner tonight.  But I look forward to my four year old saying she can carry the plates by herself and to seeing the gleam in my husband’s eyes when he pronounces it’s delicious even though he will not have even tasted it yet.  And hopefully we will add some memories as we savor the time spent in the company of one another.