Easy food for lazy days...

Everybody loves the weekend. It’s time to kick off your shoes, let your hair down and enjoy the good things in life: friends, family – and good food.

“Have a good weekend”. How often do we throw this in at the end of a conversation on a Friday? Yet, I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve been feeling that our weekends are in danger of being hovered up into the working week.

Whether it’s half an hour spent attempting to catch up on emails on a Friday night in front of the television, or a portion of Sunday afternoon spent on paperwork, increasingly it seems like the work-life balance has become the work-life blend.

Is that a good thing?

The Italians have a saying "Cuando l’amico chiede, non v’è domani ", meaning when a friend asks, there is no tomorrow, in other words, enjoy the moment now with friends.

You would be hard pushed to find an Italian spending their precious family/free time in front of a computer screen. They would be at beach, or at the mountains, ‘promenading’ with an ice-cream or enjoying dinners that go on for hours with copious amounts of food, family and friends.

And if weekends have a different vibe, then, similarly, the weekends should be about a different kind of kitchen. If your kitchen during the week is like mine then it’s a whirlwind of quick meals, bowls of cereal, homework being finished, planners checked. At the weekend, to balance the hectic pace, the kitchen should be about weekend papers spread across half the table, feet up on the chairs, coffee brewing, French toast, baking, candle-lit dinners, music, friends, family, laughter.

Start Friday after the play dates by watching a movie, making some yummy finger food, or get into your creative zone by making a curry from scratch.

Saturday morning begins and ends with brunch – invite people over, or just enjoy the relaxed vibe with your family. And if it’s a rainy afternoon, how about closing the door, turning on the music and baking? It’s such a good way to unwind.

And then on Sunday, rejoice in the sacred family time of Sunday lunch. The one day of the week where you guarantee a family get-together over good food and good times.

We all need to recharge. And we’ll all be happier going back to the routine of Monday to Friday if we’ve spent the precious weekend unwinding.

So for now, forget about midweek humdrum. Forget about express meals. Close the door, turn the music on, fire up the cooker – it’s the weekend!

Buon fine settimana…. Enjoy your weekend!

Catherine

’The Weekend Chef. Easy Food For Lazy Days’ by Catherine Fulvio is now available nationwide.