A typical meal in the Hechinger household looks a little something like this. We begin the scene with my dad cooking up a storm in the kitchen. He is the one who cooks most often because he is a chef who is very territorial of his kitchen. The prep for his exquisite dinners usually start around 4:30, because it is quite time consuming. At this time you can hear the clanking of pots and pans hitting the stove top, the bang of knives coming down on the cutting boards, and the soft sound of either music or television going on in the background of this kitchen symphony. After about an hour passes, you can start so smell the lovely aromas of what ever is being made through out my one story house.
In the most recent case, the smell was a combination of the salty fish, rich butter, fresh extra virgin olive oil, zesty lemon, and hand picked thyme from our herb garden. 6:00 pm rolls around, and this means it is time for either my mom and my self to set the table. This is our contribution to the meal. We grab the place mats out of the antique cabinet, then the silverware and finally the plates. When the table is finally set, we sit at our regular spots, my parents at either head of the table and my brother and I across from each other. As the meal is delivered to the table we begin talking. Conversation can range anywhere form how our day has been to what the latest celebrity gossip is. Dinner time in my family is communal time, this is where we share with each other. My dad likes to call it time to break bread. To me, this means that we each take our turn not only taking a piece of bread but also sharing information or a story. This is a sacred time not only for me but my family as well. This is a tradition that I hope to pass on to my children because dinner is what I believe brings families together.
