2018 Life Logs, Day 317: Dining-in with the Frieswyk’s
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Rain and Wind; High 60, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was warm today, but rainy and dreary. I spent my day inside catching up on correspondence and then went to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school. Tuesday is my day each week to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school and spend time with them until Heather and Jed get home with Sam. On Tuesdays, Sam takes the school bus to Woods Hole where either Heather or Jed meets him and takes him to drum lessons. Today was a bit different as all three boys had after-school dental cleaning appointments in Woods Hole. So, I picked up J & O and took them to Woods Hole. I got home with just enough time to heat up the side dish I was taking to my Newcomers Dining-in Group dinner and to head to Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s. This is a group of good friends that I meet with for dinner once a month.
The host home provides the main dish and everyone else volunteers to bring either an appetizer, a side dish, a salad, or a dessert. Tonight’s dinner launched us all into holiday mode. Without coordinating, we ended up with a ‘red’ theme. We started with an appetizer that included red raspberries and strawberries and then moved to the main dining room to feast on pork loin topped with a delicious cranberry gravy, cranberry bread, apple and red cabbage (capusti) sprinkled with glistening red pomegranate seeds, and cranberry quinoa stuffed acorn squash.
If you added a green dish of brussels sprout or kale salad, you would have a delicious red and green Christmas Day meal. We sat around after dinner and had a thoughtful discussion about the state of politics in our country. The one thing that we could all agree on is that all Americans need to learn to talk to one another about political differences in a civil manner. Civil discourse across party lines is rare these days. I don’t think we can solve our problems one dinner party at a time, but it is a start.
