a bowl of stew

I realized last night, and confirmed tonight, that stew makes for a good gathering. The most successful dinner party I've organized was a relatively spur-of-the-moment stew gathering, and at Kaijsa's tonight was another proof that stew makes for easy conversation. I think it's something about the informality of stew--nobody gets uptight about whether their side dish is going to be "fancy" enough for the event, nobody feels compelled to wear their nice dress, nobody wonders if it will be rude to just show up and eat stew and leave to go back to the project they've got to work on--that makes it work so well. I think there's also something about the heartiness of the meal, too: root vegetables help keep us grounded, help keep the conversation down to earth, help us realize that ultimately we're just nothing more than dirt, too.

Tonight's stew was partially a "clearing out the fridge" event--Kaijsa and I both making an effort to clean our fridges of last week's abundant co-op shares, radishes and onions and potatoes and celery and carrots and corn. And part of the stew was a celebration of Peter's successful antelope hunt this year ("look mom, no scar!), a continuation of the meat windfall. It's easy to want to share the bounty when you're surrounded by good people.

Despite missing out on the bagpipes, I can't complain about the weekend I've had.