Family for Dinner

My uncle and aunt, Edd and Nancy, came for dinner this evening.  I meant to take their picture, but I forgot.

I certainly didn’t go all out with a big, elaborate meal.  We’re just country folk and beef vegetable soup and cornbread is perfectly fine fare for us.  Not only was it nothing special, I used some leftover roast beef from a meal Gene and I had a couple weeks ago.  Roast beef with carrots and onions makes the best stock for soup, anyway.  There was about half of the roast left and I threw in a bag of frozen mix vegetables.  How easy is that?  Maybe I should say “bam” or “yummo” or some other culinary expression.  The only thing else is cornbread with lots of butter (butter makes it better, you know).

I did fix a nice dessert.  Apple pie would have just about set the meal free, but I decided to have apple and pear crisp.  It is a Barefoot Contessa recipe which I make often during the fall season.  All kidding aside--it is fabulous.  With a scoop or two of premium vanilla ice cream, it is a dessert to rival chocolate any day.  Definitely “good eats”.

Since I didn’t spend my day slaving over a hot stove, I did what was expected when family comes to dinner.  I cleaned house.  You know--the kind of house cleaning you do when your mother comes.  My uncle is what I lovingly call the gold standard in neat, clean, and organized.  My mother cannot hold a candle to her little brother.  So I cleaned.  I vacuumed every square inch of carpet, I vacuumed the window treatments, bedspread, and lamp shades.  I scrubbed the floors, washed the windows, and dusted all the cabinet doors.

I did not rearrange my closet.  I closed and latched the door, however.  His closet is looks like one of those advertisements for closet organizers.  His shirts are arranged by color and sleeve length.  And they are all starched and ironed.  Gene hasn’t worn an ironed shirt since we moved into the Everest.

We had a wonderful meal together.  Gene did the tour since they had not seen our new home.  I hope he didn’t open any drawers.  We laughed and talked and planned Thanksgiving dinner at their home.  I think they had a good time; we certainly enjoyed having them.