I don't know about the world, but the neighbors do walk by. They always did. There's running time and dog walking hour. Just now, they wear masks. But it's too hot in the Western sun, so if we're having dinner outside it's in the shade in back.

I have to have someone who will notice to bother setting a lovely table. We do that at my mother's house. But I do use nice dishes at home. Always. No point using ugly dishes. :)

No, I do not set a lovely table. Sometimes I take my plate of food and sit on my front porch and watch whatever. I live alone in the woods.

Sue

There are days I try, and there are days when DH is lucky to get anything at all. Health & old age aren't always fun :-(

Extra time? Wait while I think about that.

Here it's gardening season, and canning season. I'm cooking two separate meals for each meal because Mother won't eat anything Elery will eat and vice versa. I'm Township Clerk and the election stuff had me working 40 or 50 hours a week doing that, and it's already started for the November election. We just unloaded and stacked 2 tons of wood pellets for winter yesterday and after that we dug out a drainage ditch behind the house that was filling with vegetation. And, or course, cows and chickens don't care about COVID, only about fences and pasture and water. I'm on my way to the garden now to pick green beans, I've already canned 30 quarts of those.

A good looking meal? That's entirely secondary to having one that anyone in the house will eat. Elery won't eat potatoes or rice or bread or pasta but he loves beans. Mother loves potatoes and pasta and hates beans of all kinds and won't eat vegetables. Elery won't eat bread, Mother loves it. Elery likes salad, Mother says it should just be fed to the cows. Nope, I stopped worrying about what it looks like a couple of months ago!

Annie

Ouch Annie, that sounds exhausting.

The days seem to zip by. Up at 4-4.30. Prep/plan a few days meals. Check the garden. Harvest is kicking in. I don't can produce, but fermentations, condiments, spice rubs/blends, dressings, are always on the list. Fall crops go in this weekend.

I do appreciate a well dressed table and will accept invitations, 😜, but we are pretty much modernists/minimalists. Three table choices. Breakfast, deck, and big dining, all just steps from the kitchen. DH sets the table of choice while I scramble to plate. The only thing we insist on are very hot plates/bowls, washable linen placemats (oversized nice napkins) and washable cotton napkins. Separate serving bowls and multiple courses are way too much trouble and too much to wash. Even with a dishwasher. I plate in the kitchen and often a heap. Sometimes a separate salad we split. The plate between us on the table.

I've not lit a candle since NewYears. Cooler temps are here. 68º this morning so maybe Fall Saturday/Sunday meals will see some nice relaxed dining. An appetizer, a first and second course....and a candle.

Haha - my table is covered with stuff from work - so, no.

😂 haha. I have so many projects on my big enormous dining table....but we have one end cleared. Just enough. I could serve three, but not the usual 12.

I've been retired for a little over a year now, and so I've had plenty of time to make the table look nice for our meals, and lately I have been cooking two meals a day, since my brother is working from home, and I make lunch for both of us as well as dinner. We always eat at the dining table, but it's not extremely fancy, although we do use crystal wine glasses. I might start using some of the sterling silver, since we have it, but it has to be hand-washed.

I visited Annie last summer and all the meals I had with her were lovely. However, her mother was not there for any of the meals. We spent about a week with her but gave her a break in the middle when we drove up to St. Ignace and Sault Ste. Marie. We went to Mackinac Island while in St. Ignace and had a great time. Annie was very gracious about feeding us, including making breakfast every morning, and putting us up for as long as she did! She made us feel very welcome, and Kevin and I enjoyed visiting with her and Elery.

We also met Naturegirl! But unfortunately, no one else from Michigan showed up. I would have liked to have met Sol, but I don't know where in Michigan she is.

At our house you fill your plate and eat wherever you want. When the kids are here we do set the table, but nothing fancy.

This week I had a little surgery so I'm parked in my recliner and can't lift more than a coffee mug for a couple of weeks. He's in charge of the garden and feeding me. I'm a little scared, lol.

Katie, my turn for that tomorrow. No idea how long I'll be out of commission. Thank goodness the freezer is packed with lots of leftovers!

I do not set the table. I am often eating alone as DH has long long hours at work still. I stand and eat and watch a show. Or outside on the front balcony when my p*tsmoking neighbours aren't out there. I have nothing against it but my migraines seem to dislike it immensely.

I do eat with my favourite coloured glass dishes and silver plate silverware every day at every meal just about.

I do set a table for holidays. I have not been ironing my tablecloths but I think I will start that again as when I took a picture I didn't like the way it looked.

Annie will both your mom and Elery eat eggs? Are most of Elery's requirements dietary? I'm just curious because eggs and plain steamed veggies are all I can pretty much eat at a restaurant so breakfast is the best meal for me to go out and eat.

Meeting tonight. Bread baking ran over into it, too. Dinner was no dishes at all. A morsel grabbed out of the fridge, swallowed before the Zoom video. Ugh. I want the tablecloth and dishes!

EIther at the kitchen table or on a tray watching TV. I do try to make my meal look nice because it seems more appetizing. The dining room table always has a jigsaw puzzle spread across it so that's a no-go at anytime.

yeonnasky, Elery will eat eggs, mostly scrambled, but Mother will only eat deviled eggs, and only sometimes. She used to eat an occasional omelette, but if there was one speck of brown on that egg, into the trash it went, LOL. Now she just won't eat them at all. She used to like quiche too, but now won't eat that either. It's unfortunate too, because I just replaced my laying flock and I got 18 eggs today. The B&B across the street usually buys all I can provide, which is why I got new pullets, but now they can't have any customers, so they don't need all the eggs.

She is very specific about what she will eat. She will occasionally eat a piece of toast but it has to be white bread, only Soft N Good brand, toasted lightly, only KerryGold butter and the crust must be cut off. She likes a cup of yogurt for breakfast but it must be Oikos, must be full fat, must be the Greek style and only raspberry. She will eat KFC but only original recipe and only the thigh. No vegetables and the only fruit she will eat is watermelon and canned mandarin oranges.

And that's why she weighs 85 pounds. I "sneak" calories to her via her favorite coffee drink which contains white chocolate, raspberry syrup, coffee, whole milk and whipped cream.

Lars, I greatly enjoyed your stay here. I'll always remember sitting at the kitchen counter and talking until the small hours of the morning. At least we got breakfast, we spent so much time driving around during the day that there wasn't much time to cook, except that day naturegirl came to visit!

Annie

Thank you Annie for answering my question. What a difficult thing it is when someone's appetite isn't the best. I admire your ability to manage that difficult situation. I I have enough trouble with my own special diet!

@ Annie - my mom also had a lot of excuses not to eat, and left to her own devices almost starved herself.

1 thing I've found that has helped her get stronger and put on weight is collagen powder. I add a scoop to her cereal in the morning. It's clear and tasteless and dissolves into liquids and provides extra protein. Trader Joe's has a good brand for a good price.

Her Dr. also started her on a tiny dose of mirtazapine, which can help increase appetite, and seems to be working. Last time she was weighed, she'd put on 8 pounds!

She also started eating ice cream for a snack every day - she only allows herself 1 scoop though.

Thanks, Carol, I'll look for the collagen powder. I tried Ensure type drinks and I tried making shakes with ice cream, but neither of those are acceptable. You think I could mix the collagen in her coffee drink?

Annie

I'll bet you can - it's tasteless and dissolves quickly into whole milk.

This is what they have at Trader Joe's:

Earlier in the pandemic, when I ran out, I bought some directly from their website, but TJ's has a better price.

Thanks, Carol, I'll try that. Heck, at this point I'll try nearly anything!

Annie

My heart goes out to you Annie. I just can't imagine.

Set a nice table? Nope. It seems that flat surfaces are my bane. They attract paper (recipes, notes, ideas of menus for the week) as well as peaches ripening, the current book I'm reading, and just a catch-all.

One end cleared for moi.

I watch tv only on weekends, that's my treat......to stream whatever show is my current fad. Right now it's The Umbrella Academy. So on weekends I set up my little wooden tv table with my plate and a glass of wine.

Honestly I would love to set our dining table and eat in a bit more style. But the dining room has been repurposed as our office/conference room/work sprace. I am worried that I am actually going to wear out my dining chairs! (We do rotate them regularly).

So that leave the kitchen island or in front of the TV for us.

Annie, my daughter-in-law bought me a product similar to what Carol posted about. It really does dissolve instantly in liquids or saucy-type foods. I was having a bout of vertigo that included nausea and vomiting, so she brought some over for me to use in clear broths once I could get them down.

I was a bit skeptical but it really dissolved nicely. It helped me get through that day. I could sip the broth yet knew I was getting some protein to supplement it.

With all the flavorful stuff you put in your mom’s coffee drink, I don’t think she’d notice the addition unless she happened upon you just as you were spooning it into her drink.

Annie, also, I saw something this morning about collagen supplements that said you can even mix it in yogurt, so that might be another option.

My son came for 2 days last week to help me with the derecho aftermath....and that has been the only time I have had anyone to set a table for. I have eaten an informal bite on a friend's patio a couple of times....but since mid March it's just been me....and I just grab my plate and sit where ever i can.

But I used to set a table, always when there was someone to eat with, unless I had a friend over to watch a movie with cocktails and "crap on your lap" and call it dinner.
crap on your lap is often a baguette of warm bread, various cheeses, crudites de jour, perhaps shrimp, maybe crackers or pretzels, hummos, smoked salmon, avocado with lime....etc etc.

Thanks, Shambo and Edie, I'm going to give it a try. She doesn't even watch me making her coffee any more. By the time I add warm milk, raspberry syrup, white chocolate sauce, the coffee and a dollop of whipped cream, she doesn't even know WHAT I'm putting in there, LOL.

Sarah, half of my dining room table was full of election "stuff" like ballot envelopes, various forms, the PPEs for election workers. I had to clean it off as we had Elery's youngest son and his family for brunch yesterday. I stuck it all in Mother's bedroom and then had to bring it all back out so she has a place to sleep. At least now it's in boxes...

Annie

I remember cooking when the kids were young, and I tried to make a meal that everyone could eat. So no poultry or broth, no milk or milk products, no peanuts. It was a challenge, but for Thanksgiving, which I host for my family and sister and BIL, we just grilled DD a filet mignon. She was happy.

I can pretty well be counted on to set two beautifully plated meals on the table for husband and I. Since my house is pared down to not a lot of junk, the table is always clear, clean and spacious.

I have always thought that it adds to a meal if it is beautiful when you greet it at the table. It does not have to be fancy. Simple can be very beautiful. Usually I serve plated.

At times I will set a rather rustic table, but still with a beautiful meal still hot in the iron skillet and maybe some fresh vegetable prepared and put into canning jars that go directly on the table. The leftovers just need a lid on the jar and into the fridge. Keep it simple and beautiful.

First you eat with your eyes.

I enjoy preparing our dinner.