Girls in the House

A good friend of mine, my best man in fact once offered me sage advice along the lines of “Peter you have to trust me on this, but it will be well worth your while to watch a chick flick with Joy from time to time”. I won’t bother explaining why he said that – you can figure it out for yourself. It would be fair to say however I have heeded his advice and would have to say that it was good.

Many years later I have not just Joy, but three women in the house. So more often that I would choose, and with titles I would not give a second thought, I find myself watching a chick flick. Last night, it was “Julie and Julia”. Jilly received the DVD for Christmas and was keen to watch it. I think I was given a pass, which was tempting, but the idea of putting my feet up in front of the fire with my girls was appealing enough to overcome my other misgivings.

Turns out it was an OK movie – really – I’m not just saying that in case Joy should read this. The girls of course loved it. Mallory possibly driven by some sort of sensory trigger was instantly hungry and started looking through cook books before the movie was even over (I think she may have already seen it). While there was some interest in the possibility of boning a duck (firmly vetoed by Joy), the crowd favorite was boeuf bourguignon – which I must say did look good and if I hadn’t eaten too much at Sweet Tomatoes (salad and soup buffet) in a getaway date with Joy just prior to watching the movie, may have had me salivating also.

So with girls in the house, one thing inevitably leads to another. Recipes have been tracked down (afraid we don’t have the Julia Child cookbook), plans have been made, and tomorrow, boeuf bourguignon it will be.

I love my girls. Food and time spent together over a meal are valued in our house. The reality of having teenagers (more or less) is that our life including evenings gets very busy, but we usually manage to have some family meals every week. Even the girls seem to miss family dinners if there is an extended spell without one. We are so blessed that Joy loves to cook and constantly manages to not only take care of all the other never ending household chores, yet still plans out and prepares interesting meals. Sure there are some family favorites that will appear with reasonable regularity, but Joy’s creativity means monotony is not something we need to fear at the dining table. I love it that the girls enjoy working in the kitchen with her. Possibly Jilly enjoys it more, but it is not uncommon for either of them to want to cook something. I am sure they will enjoy the preparing of this special meal tomorrow almost as much as I am sure I will enjoy eating it.

Bon appétit

PS. If it looks spectacular, perhaps I will explore how photos can be added to a blog post.