For the past week we’ve been catching as catch can as far as food/eating/dining is concerned. There are always glitches in every move (everyone who’s moved knows that!), and one of the glitches in this move for us was that for our first week in our new home we had no stools/chairs for our dining table/peninsula. They had been ordered, but arrived late, and then were the wrong height, and had to be re-cut to the right size, etc., etc., etc… it doesn’t matter… the bottom line is that for our first 9 days we had nowhere to sit down and eat as a family. Finally today all was resolved with the stools/chairs, so tonight was our first ‘real’-sit-down-around-the-table-together-“normal”-in-our-new-‘normal’-Family-Dinner.
This morning, in a sweet act of kindness, the fabulous Karl Brisseaux, who is one of my favorite former students, who now works at Lehigh, and who just happens to be Haitian, brought us a housewarming gift. He brought us a big pan of Haitian Rice & Beans, made lovingly for him to give to us by his mom. She was visiting him this weekend and he called her in advance and asked her to bring this gift for us. Can you imagine?! It totally warmed my heart and soul.
I had to have a little taste, so right after Karl left (this was 9:30am), I warmed up a tiny bowl and gave it a tasting. OhMyGoodnessGracious~~DELICIOUS! I gave K & O each a spoonful and they, of course, went crazy for it. We’ve tasted lots of Rice & Beans, but this is the very best to ever hit our tastebuds. Right then and there I decided that our first ‘real’ dinner was going to be based around this Rice & Beans loveliness.
We did a grocery store run and by early afternoon the Chicken was already marinating and the Pikliz was pickling. So, tonight we kicked off our new ‘normal’ with a little Haitian Dinner:
- Mrs. Brisseaux’s Rice & Beans (THANK YOU KARL!)
- Haitian Chicken (recipe here)
- Haitian Pikliz (recipe here)
- Watermelon
- Rum Punch
Slowly but surely it is beginning to feel like home.
the kids look so big in this picture! they have ALL changed so much in the past couple of months! hope you had a fabulous first “real” dinner in your new home.
Dinner looks great and sounds like it was fabulous! And of course Kyle, Owen and Meera appear to be enjoying sitting down for that first sit down meal. What strikes me most is seeing the outline of the cinder block walls. So reminiscent of the many years I spent living in and overseeing college housing.
Kerry, Yup! That is what struck me most about the photo too!!!! Thanks for reading, ~hbj
That is NICE!!!! I thought the new apartments on Livingston Campus at Rutgers were cool, but your new place looks amazing!!! Good luck with everything!!!
Good luck for everything, what a great first real dinner! It looks like a lot has happened since this post but it’s so great to have this memory recorded.
– Kate