Bell-A-Roos

When my sister and I were tiny little tots, one of our many ways to occupy ourselves would be to create our own restaurant, Bell-A-Roos. We had an exquisite menu created (at least five different options) and we would allow our family to order from the menu so that we could prepare amazing food for all to enjoy... until we didn't want to clean up the mess we made or moved onto the next project.

I'm not quite sure my love of cooking followed me over the years. While picking Jacob up from my parent's house today, my mom asked me what I was "cooking for dinner." I almost laughed. No, wait. I did laugh. "Steph, you really should start preparing some dinners." She didn't mean anything bad from this; just that, well, I should take on the "mom" role of cooking. Growing up, family dinner was an important part of our every day lives. Regardless of what was going on (and with four kiddos, we were always busy), my mom always prepared a home-cooked meal for us. We would sit as family, eat, talk, yell, laugh, cry.. most importantly, we would do it together. I always knew that when I had my own family, I would want these family dinners to continue in my own house. While I may not be the best cook, I can promise that I am going to learn.

Starting tomorrow night.... because tonight, I took a lasagna out of the package and popped it in the oven. We did, however, sit and eat as a family.