The other night my husband, Guillaume and I were enjoying most probably the last beef bourguignon for the season (it’s the beginning of Springtime here). Luck had it that it turned out okay because it was literally thrown together as I juggled my thirteen month old pulling at my leg and my almost three year old having a tantrum in the other room, all the while I was keeping an eye on the time to leave and pick my five year old up from school.
I guess you could say there wasn’t a whole lot of love thrown into that dish with all of the chaos around me. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a whole lot of ingredients either – I was missing a number of things and even forgot to marinate the meat the night before! My saviour was the great cut of cross cut blade steak which tenderised beautifully, along with time to let the casserole slow cook for hours in the oven so that it could develop a rich thick sauce.
I explained this all to Guillaume as we sat down to enjoy it with a glass of wine after the kids had gone to bed. We then got reminiscent of the days before children when we would have a fortnightly dinner date at home. We would do the full meal; entrée, main and dessert with matching wines for each course including dessert wine – oh how I love dessert wine! The table was set beautifully and we had cool tunes playing… We had so much fun doing it from the planning and preparation to the actual dinner. With each subsequent child, the frequency of these moments became less and less, which is sad because we both love food and cooking! I really believe preparing and enjoying good food is one of those things that nurtures the soul and brings people together.
So I’m setting a challenge for myself. I’m going to make it happen and create this experience once a month from now on and I’ll report back here with what I made, along with the matching wines that we drunk. Would you like that?
Perhaps this might spark some interest in you to do something similar this weekend or one day soon with your partner, flatmate or friend? If you do, I would love to hear about it! You can send me an email to mel@melchesneau.com or let me know over on my facebook page, I’m always so happy to hear from my readers!
Have a lovely weekend everyone and see you Monday!
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What a great idea Mel, look forward to hearing how you go. I would love to be able to plan for a set meal, but for me the treat of mealtimes has now become not eating with my children and the chaos and disruption they bring!
Oh Gemma, believe me this will be a childless event – they’ll be fast asleep…;-)
Hi Mel,
This is bringing back memories for me, children are now 19 & 14 but yes it’s almost impossible to sit down for a decent meal together when you have little ones! The dinner for two you described sounds beautiful..l love the sound of the challenge you’ve set yourself..can’t wait to see what you’ve cooked and what wines you’ve chosen.
I have to say, I’m really looking forward to it! I’ll just get through school holidays (1 wk behind you here)…
Ooh yes please Mel. It reminds me of a far more accessible version of Julie and Julia.-great idea. Yes-days before kids…..!!!!! Going to check out your previous posts now-I love it here-must add you to my blogroll. Have a great week! x
@Caroline – thanks so much for the compliment, love it “chez vous” also:) @Anastasia – you’re so organised, I always intend to pre-plan! I’m sure if I do that in all areas of my life (including the blog) life would be less hectic! Mel x
Oh goodluck with your challenge Mel!
Once a month sounds do-able, I tend to plan my weekly meals on a Sunday but I agree, it will be fun to plan and prepare such a feast and something to look forward to each month!
We have a similar habit. When I am home and not traveling, Friday is the day we start celebrating the weekend cooking together starting with a pica-pica and a good wine in the kitchen. The pica-pica will be some starters such as olives, cheese, nuts, just to go with the wine. We cook then together, having fun, everything related to works stays outside. Cooking is one of the things that relaxes me most and as I travel a lot, it gives me the feeling of being home! Have a great weekend, Mel!
That sounds right up my alley Gudy! Have a wonderful weekend too!
Hi! Popped over from Farmhouse Home. I have a 13 year old (gulp!) so this really resonated with me! I can barely remember a time that we weren’t eating meals with a kid around me. Now it’s scrabbled in between homework and baseball practice but you know what I mean! Have you heard of the cookbook Dinner A Love Story? She describes the time you’re in right now quite nicely…as in nearly impossible to get much good cooking done! Soon they’ll be cooking alongside you! Cheers!
Thanks for stopping by Lauren:)