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Quote of the Day: Tamar Adler

September 21st, 2014

“We’re anxious about serving, but the simple, blessed fact is that no one ever comes to a dinner for what you’re cooking. We are all hungry and thirsty and happy that someone’s predicted we would be and made arrangements for dealing with it. We come for the opportunity to look up from our plates and say “thank you.” It is for recognition of our common hungers that we come when we are asked.”

-Tamar Adler from An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace
meals with friends 5
Recently I’ve been thinking about starting a supper club or some sort of way to gather around the table with people. Then I read an article on Serious Eats titled Friday Night Meatballs: Changing Your life with Pasta and knew this is exactly how I wanted to structure my weekly dinners. There are so many people we want to have over yet somehow it never works when we try to schedule it, as is common with busy people. Setting one evening a week to open our home seems like the best way to have meals with people when it’s convenient for both us and them.
meals with friends 4
When we lived back in Ohio we had a couple that we got together with weekly, there were also lots of other people that came over often to gather around our table or we went to their homes to gather around theirs. There really is no better way to fill not only our stomachs but also ourselves.
Christmas Dinner Again 2
Making Christmas Dinner 6
I love the idea of settling on one simple meal to make each week, something that makes it easy for people to choose accompanying salad, dessert or wine to bring. I love the idea of people coming when they can, bringing friends and family if they happen to be in town. I love the idea of meeting new people and sharing food with friends we haven’t seen often enough. But most of all, I love the idea of gathering around a table for conversation and community.

Do you get together with friends often for meals and conversation?

8 Comments to “Quote of the Day: Tamar Adler”
  1. Lemongrass on September 21, 2014 at 5:26 am

    I belonged to a knitting group in Brooklyn, NY that meet one a month. Each month we would at a different person’s house, bring a knitting/crochet project and a dish to share. Sometimes a bottle of wine would find a place on the table.
    We talked about knitting, crocheting………….and this and that. We gathered with others who were crocheters/knitters too. We sometimes have a lesson to give or a lesson to take, opened our eyes to different cultures and their foods, which is always a learning experience.
    The gathering of people around food, handwork, and thoughts is what will help improve and save our souls.
    Enjoy your gatherings.

    Reply to Lemongrass's comment

  2. Marina on September 21, 2014 at 6:58 am

    What a good idea!
    I have a set weekly date, like Lemongrass, for knitting, and sometimes that morphs into getting together to share a recipe and cook together after knitting.
    We also have a Wednesday music group. Monday or Tuesday a group email goes out, someone offers to host, makes a main dish, and everybody else brings something. It always works out. We chat while we eat, and playing music is such a good way to share time and joy together.
    Yours is a great idea, I would love to incorporate that into our routine.
    Is that a big Yorkshire pudding and roast beef I see on the table? :-)

    Reply to Marina's comment

    • Susy on September 21, 2014 at 8:15 am

      Yes, it is a big Yorkshire pudding. This was our traditional Christmas dinner a few years ago when my parents came up and we invited our neighbor over. We had a huge standing rib roast, Yorkshire pudding, oyster stew, potatoes and all the fixings.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  3. Sierra Hampl on September 21, 2014 at 8:02 am

    I love this idea, too. I’ve been trying to convince Walter that we should do something like this. One of the things holding me back though is having a bunch of kids over. I really struggle when the noise level gets out of control. I kind of want to make it an adult only thing but that would leave out a lot of people.

    Reply to Sierra Hampl's comment

  4. Nebraska Dave on September 21, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Susy, in my humble opinion, it’s not about the food. Food is just the excuse to get together for conversation and fellowship. My immediate neighbors surrounding my house have not really dined inside the houses together but mostly outside around the fire pit with impromptu gatherings in the summer months. One scheduled block party for the entire block happens usually in July. The street is blocked off and kids ride bikes and skate boards down the hill. It’s been a great way to connect with neighbors. Many times the neighbors will just gather for a chat in a driveway for an evening with conversations about any thing and every thing. I think that’s the way it was intended to be, don’t you?

    Have a great food with conversation day.

    Reply to Nebraska Dave's comment

  5. Kristen on September 21, 2014 at 5:47 pm

    Our book group gets together once a month, always around a table of food. Conversation ranges from the books, to family, jobs etc. It’s always a fun night. We also have “family dinner” at our house with friends every couple of months. It’s a nice time to catch up. I read the same article on Serious Eats and loved the idea. I will be curious to hear if you implement it and how it goes!

    Reply to Kristen's comment

  6. Natasha on September 21, 2014 at 5:47 pm

    I just read the article. I would love to do that – a weekly meal! It inspired a blog post about the person I want to be (in the middle of a clutter challenge!)

    Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply to Natasha's comment

  7. Jennie on September 23, 2014 at 7:08 am

    I just read Shauna Niequists book Bread and Wine- and it reminded me of the big simple dinner parties we had in college- usually spaghetti balanced on our laps…funny how we used to cram 20 pele in a studio and think nothing of it compared to the stress of “entertaining”,,,I liked our cheap spaghetti parties so much more than any Pinterest Perfect party!

    Reply to Jennie's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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