The Importance of Mealtime

My photography really doesn't do this breakfast justice - or maybe it's my mad Photoshop skills. Either way, this lovely feast is what Robert cooked this morning for breakfast ... French toast with fruit-infused butter, thick (real) bacon and grapes. Not pictured here is the lovely coffee mug that was sitting happily right next to the plate. 

When I met Robert, he cooked quite often. Rarely did a week go by that he wasn't whipping up a breakfast like this one (very English, by the way), a chicken curry (again, very English) or a bread and butter pudding (seriously English). Okay he made salads too. Most of his cooking took place on the weekend, while I made our weekly evening meals. As time went by, and as I began experimenting with various cookbooks and perfecting almost every Jamie Oliver recipe I could get my hands on, Robert quit cooking except on the rare occasion.

It wasn't until recently, when we started watching The Pioneer Woman on The Food Network that Robert's interest in cooking peaked again. Now, I've read The Pioneer Woman's blog for years. She has literally millions of followers and talks about everything from her Bassett hounds to her cooking to her home schooling to her photography. 

A couple of weekends ago, Robert made spicy pulled pork. This weekend, he made French toast with berry butter for breakfast and he's planning to make Asian hot wings for dinner. Since I already indulged in the French toast, chances are I won't eat the wings but the ingredients sitting on the counter look mouth-watering good! I bought some Boston bibb lettuce and may just make myself a salad for dinner. For some reason I feel like I need a little healthiness! (I can't imagine why!)

Benefits of Family Meals

Sometimes I bet you wonder what all of my random blog posts have to do with adoption. Well, I'll tell ya. Studies show that families who eat together are healthier. Why? The social connections created while sitting down to a meal fire up all of those feel-good neurotransmitters and create bonds. 

Say what? 

A family that sits down together for meals get close:

• Family meals provide structure and stability. 
• Families who eat together talk more.
• Families who eat together share more
• Mealtimes are a reason to get together every single day. 

A family unit is about the strongest bond a person can have from infant hood well into adulthood and beyond.

You might say Robert and I are practicing our parenting skills before we've even found our adoptive child just simply by cooking together and eating together.