Thoughtful Tuesday

Well I'm obviously not over the alliterations. I considered titling it Introspective Tuesday but what fun what that be?

Did you all have a great 4th of July celebration??? We did! We got to spend the day at home with a group of friends we don't see often enough. And I got to watch my husband play in the street with Warren, one of our really good friends, until the dark hours of the night. 10:30p. Whoo, we're getting old!

It was fireworks on parade at our house and, as the night grew older, on our street. I'm pretty sure all the neighbors got into fireworks battles once the big guns came out.

Does anyone else think these 'snakes' are gross?

Kayla does!

Caught a parachute!

We finished the night off almost totally incident free. Warren and Patrice invited friends of theirs to stop by and of course the 8 month pregnant woman whom none of us really knew got hit by a firework. Thankfully she only had a couple of really small scratches but why couldn't it have happened to one of us? Or to the two crazies who were lighting them off! As we were cleaning her off she said, 'At least I had my hair pulled back'. Holy mother! I hadn't even thought of that, instead of a pregnant woman with little scratches we could have had a pregnant woman on FIRE!!! Needless to say that incident put a damper on things and most of us headed inside to watch Robbie and Warren light fireworks off from the safety of the picture window!

Once everyone left I started putting away the food and I couldn't help but wonder why our celebrations and emotions are so intertwined with food. As soon as Patrice and I decided to 'do' the 4th together the first thing we planned was what to eat. And when we included the others that was also their first question, 'What can we bring?'.

Food is so tied up in our memories and emotions that yesterday when I told my husband what we were going to have to eat I felt like we were still missing something. Do you know what he said? 'It feels like something is missing because its all fancy food. Theres no traditional 4th of July food. No potato salad or baked beans.' I'm not totally sure whats fancy about chicken on the grill, pasta salad and coleslaw but he had a point. Thinking back on all other 4th of July, heck all warm weather celebrations, there is always macaroni salad or potato salad. Baked beans are a given, as is fresh corn. At least since we've moved here. (In my defense there was no corn at the Farmers Market, I looked. I wanted some! Most of our local produce is showing up late this year. And I had a can of baked beans in the cabinet so I saved the day with that. Go me.)

Now I'm not saying I didn't enjoy every morsel I put in my mouth. And in case you're wondering what I ate...grilled portobello mushroom cap (Side not- spell check wants to change portobello to potbelly. Really?), quinoa caprese salad from here, pasta salad full of yummy fresh veggies, 'Asian' coleslaw, cream cheese pound cake with berries, fruit salsa with cinnamon chips and at the end of the night one s'more.

I wonder why it is that at Summer celebrations we expect potato salad and baked beans, at Thanksgiving we expect turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pumpkin pie. At Christmas, at least in my family, there is ham. Same with Easter. For New Years Day my grandma makes black eyed peas and ham. Some of my favorite childhood memories are spending the night at Grandmas house to have her make us bacon, eggs fried in the left over grease and Jiffy blueberry muffins. Later in the day, if we were good, she'd take us to Thriftys to get ice cream.

Think about it. Births, deaths, holidays, parties, time with family and friends it always includes food. Heck I was in LABOR and Patrice brought me Lumpia (pre-veggie days) and let me tell you, it was awesome! When my Uncle John passed away we went to his funeral and then back to my Aunts house to a big buffet. Every birthday party anyone has ever thrown, even those not at 'designated' meal times, has included food. All the holidays and celebrations seem to revolve around food.. Why do we eat? Besides the obvious need. Is it emotionally driven? Is it the societal norm? Is it an excuse to spend time together? An excuse to overindulge? Is it habit? Does anyone have thoughts on this?