Dinner Diaries: Something for Everyone

Job:

Stay-at-home mom (I love to cook, and for around a year, I ran a small, busy takeout-by-delivery from my kitchen. A lot of the business ended up happening on Fridays, because people ordered our dips and potato kugel. I gave it up to focus on my family, because I figure this is the prime time to be available to raise my kids.)

Lives:

Montreal

Cooking for:

spouse, myself, and eight children ages 0-15 kein ayin hara

When we eat:

I realized with experience that the earlier the younger kids eat supper, the sooner they are happier. I live in a suburb of Montreal, so because I have to wait around from the first carpool (3:00) until the next one (3:45), I’m out for over an hour, and only come home at 4:00 or 4:15. The kids are hungry right then! I make my suppers to accommodate that, either before leaving and kept on low/warm, or quickly put together right after. The next kids eat when they come in, at 5:30. My husband usually eats at around 6:30. We spend time together, but not around the supper table. Everyone has different schedules — and I also need some quiet.

My Cooking Philosophy:

I’m very practical, and I’d like to break the stigma on simple suppers. Who says supper has to be fancy dishes, with menus from the magazines? Who says we have to compare and compete with each other? I know that people try a lot of different menus and different dishes and see what goes down well. I do it the other way — I see what goes down well, and that is what I make: simple, regular foods. At this busy stage, with a full house of children, this is what works for me. Maybe I’ll have time to be more gourmet when things quiet down. My kids don’t like fleishigs that much, my husband does, and I like a healthier version of things if I can; so some nights, I serve three suppers.