It’s a little like Thanksgiving

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author, books, cooking, dining room, Family, inspiration, meals, Thanksgiving, writing

I hate Swedish meatballs.

Forgive me, IKEA, because I’ve heard yours are amazing. But the version my sister prepared when we were growing up was inedible. (My mother, however, was thrilled when sis tackled recipes from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls.)

At the dinner table my parents praised her, while I choked down enough to pass muster. The menu may have been lacking, but the conversation was good. Back then, my parents were on to something.

A youth mental-health crisis that was building for a decade before the pandemic, has worsened over the past two years. In 2021, 44 percent of high school students said they felt persistently sad or hopeless in the past year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, mounting scientific research shows that gathering for regular meals and conversation might be one way to build children’s emotional resilience. (Having TV on in the background has been found to reduce the quality of children’s meals.)

I know it’s hard to deal with conflicting schedules of working parents and kids. But avoiding digital distractions and eating family dinners together is worth the effort.

Just don’t serve Swedish meatballs…

Renee Garrison is the award-winning author of two Young Adult books, “The Anchor Clankers,” and “Anchored Together.” She is Past President of the Florida Authors and Publishers Association.

Stove injuries heat up

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cooking, injuries, stove, thanksgiving dinners, turkey

Turkey Day is almost here, but there are a few statistics that might curb your appetite: Every hour an estimated five Americans are treated in hospital emergency rooms for burns, scalds and other injuries caused by contact with stoves.

Research conducted from 1990 to 2010 showed children were twice as likely as adults to get hurt when stoves aren’t properly installed and tip over. However, people over 60 were twice as likely as the kids to trip over a stove drawer and wind up in the emergency room. Muscular sprains and strains were the most common injury in people aged 40 to 59 using a stove.

More than half the injuries were caused by contact with a hot stovetop, followed by a hot stove door and the stove interior. (Microwaves, toaster ovens and barbecues were excluded from the study.)
Most folks – 94.4% – were treated and released from the hospital, probably in time for pumpkin pie.

Fortunately, most stove injuries can be prevented with “consumer education about proper installation, common-sense cooking attire and the use of child safety gates” according to the study, which appeared in this month’s American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Maybe I’ll make turkey salad, instead…it’s safer.

Gathering around an open flame

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Conversation, cooking, Home, Homeowner, Housewarming, kitchen

                           At heart, we are all kitchen dwellers.

 

   Since time began, human beings have thrived by gathering around an open flame. With its sweet smells, its gentle crackling sound and its mesmerizing flicker, the cooking fire provided warmth, conversation and a delicious dinner all in one –ask any camper!

 We are still drawn to the fire, though now it may have evolved into a rather sophisticated convection oven. Conversation flows easily around a kitchen table,  from topic to topic…one plate to the next.

 Reflect for a moment on the entertainment mystery of all time:  Why does the center of any party always gravitate to the kitchen?