Easter Dinner... Katie-style (Greek)

I really wish that Grandma Boulicault (Eva) could have been with us today. She would have been so proud. Not only did we use her soup tureen, but Queeny did the dishes.

Background: Grandma collected dishes. Dishes of all sorts. Fancy cup and saucer sets, relish dishes, toothpick holders, dinner bells, whatever caught her eye. She had more oddball items than you can imagine. When she moved from the family home (and not counting the dishes in the kitchen) she had 3 china cabinets full and the back stairwell which was never used was stacked all the way up the stairs. Before she died she gave my dad a beautiful soup tureen and covered casserole dish, a matching set, of Limoges/Haviland china. They’ve been in my parents’ china cabinet ever since.

After Grandpa died, my dad made a point to have Grandma over for dinner 2 or 3 times a week. When everyone got up from the table Mom would start washing the dishes, and Grandma would say to my mother, “Why don’t you have Queeny do it (pointing to me). She doesn’t do anything around here.”

This weekend she would have busted a couple buttons. My daughter, Katie, likes to “take things up a notch”. We’ve gotten pretty lazy over the last decade or so, using paper plates, plastic cups, plastic forks, knives, spoons, vinyl tablecloths, etc. Many times we served the food out of the pans we cooked it in. Over the last year or so, Katie’s been vamping things up a few levels. We put the vinyl tablecloths underneath to protect the table from spills, and we’re using damask tablecloths and fancy-folded napkins. A couple Christmases ago I talked Mom into letting us use the fancy drinking glasses that were on display for 40+ years.

Today we bumped it up even further. We served in courses. Soup, salad, dinner, dessert. Katie decided to make a Greek dinner for Easter. She roasted a leg of lamb, with potatoes, carrots, and celery. She made a Greek salad and spanakopita (spinach pie). When she started talking about making avgolemono (lemon chicken soup), I said, “Great! We can use Grandma Boulicault’s soup tureen!”

It’s been a long time since I washed so many dishes. The soup tureen had to be washed, since it had been in the china cabinet for over 30 years. I washed a dozen china soup bowls last night, since they’d been in the buffet for over 20 years, and a dozen salad bowls. I set the table (including soup spoons) and folded the cloth napkins like a bird-of-paradise (Katie taught me). Today I washed the 16 glasses, because they sit out all the time. All this before we ate.

Joe smoked a turkey and made three loaves of homemade bread (without a recipe). We also had mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and Katie made 2 pies. So, add it up. After dinner I washed 10 (EACH) soup bowls, salad bowls, plates, forks, knives, spoons, soup spoons, and glasses. Add to that the serving platters, bowls, forks, spoons for each food item. Oh, and the pots, pans, lids, bowls, measuring cups, knives, strainers, spoons, cutting boards, etc. used in preparation/cooking. Whew! Too bad Grandma missed that. If I could tell her, she’d think it was an April Fool!

P. S. I didn’t say a word when they got out the disposable dessert plates. 

Live your life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral

Our preacher used to tell a story about a guy that nobody liked. He was mean, hateful, selfish… you name it.

There was another guy in town that never said an unkind word about anybody. Let’s call him Jim.

One day the first guy died, and a group of men were sitting around talking, whittling, etc. One by one, they took turns bad-mouthing the guy, talking about how nobody would even want to go to his funeral. Then it came around to Jim. Everybody was waiting to see what Jim would say. It got real quiet. He thought for a minute and said, “He sure could whistle.”