A Note on Sunday Dinner

March 8th, 2005 marks my brother John's 29th birthday, so to celebrate the occasion my wife and I and our kids and my brother, his wife and kids all met at my parents' house today to eat some meat and potatoes and sing "Happy Birthday".

This week we got stuck with the green bean casserole and John's wife, Jessica, got the glory of the dessert--a well-made fluffy lemon cake. The glory is generally spread around pretty evenly at these types of events as we are often in charge of the funeral potatoes, but today we got saddled with the green bean casserole. John claims that it is his favorite vegetable dish, and he did eat quite a bit of it so I hesitate to call it a ploy, but gimme a break. Its green beans and cream of mushroom soup. How much credit can we get for that?

I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Jess is usually asked to bring a salad of some sort, so it was a nice break that she got the glory dish. My mother, on the other hand, is usually the big winner in these get togethers. She once got a scholarship to Long Beach State for her prowess in Home Economics, so it is no wonder that she usually gathers the highest marks from the judges. Today's performance was again top notch. She stuck the landing on the roast and mixed the mashed potatoes to just the right consistency. Again a flawless performance.

We'll probably meet again in three weeks for the Easter Sunday soiree. I am hoping to score the cheesy broccoli-cauliflower, and I'll be quite upset if my mother tags us for the cooked carrots. No one gets credit for that one.