Travis Long - tlong@newsobserver.com
Christine Lang and son Macnair, 10, prepare dinner at home in Chapel Hill. Lang says other family activities don't prevent them from dining together every day.
How does the family dinner table look around here? Excerpts from what readers told us:
The Lang family of Chapel Hill makes dinner together the highest daily priority. From mother Christine Lang: "We never, yes, never, skip this evening ritual, even with sports practices, dance rehearsals, Mom's book club, etc. ... For those few moments of each day, we look into each other's faces and see joy, pain, stress, life and love. My children cannot imagine spending dinnertime any other way."
Mary Catherine Dodge, a senior at Broughton High School in Raleigh, told us the family dinner is alive and well, "at least as long as my mother has something to say about it."
"Over a great, home-cooked meal (again, thanks, Mom), we discuss everything: Grades, college applications, favorite teachers, silly friends, intense band drama and yes, even boys.
"Just last night, we talked about our sweet grandmothers, what Valkyries are and whether they're mentioned in 'The Odyssey,' how soon my sister and I have tests, whether my band will win at the competition this weekend, and the best way to navigate a very complex fight between friends, all cemented together by my daddy's cheesy jokes. 'My jokes aren't cheesy, they're more pasta than cheese.'
"Yeah, OK, Dad. The family dinner lives on."
Tom Brown of Hillsborough is a teacher, his wife Paula is a nurse on the night shift and they have a son, Theodore. He started writing a blog called Cooking and My Family, at cookingandmyfamily .wordpress.com , to chronicle how they cook together, often using recipes from magazines.
"We really believe we can eat healthy, avoid fast food and have a lot of interesting dishes on a very busy schedule, and we thought it was worth sharing with our friends who are often amazed that we do this."
The Sickles family of Apex started Friday Night Date Night three years ago, making homemade pizza with the family. They've saved money and it's easier for Dolly Sickles, who doesn't eat dairy. "It gets old explaining why I want a pizza that has 'half with no cheese.' Seriously, who needs that mockery and disbelief?
"Our pizza nights are legendary. Family and friends know that if they eat at our house on Fridays, they're getting homemade pizza."
Amy Jackson of Chocowinity in Beaufort County puts two cooked, boneless chicken breasts, cut in pieces, a package of defrosted spinach, a can of chicken broth and garlic in the slow cooker to make a regular family meal. It's served over pasta and topped with Parmesan.
"When my husband I were both working, this meal became a wintertime family favorite for us and our two daughters who were long-distance runners on their high school track teams. I never named it - just prepared it in the Crock-Pot so it provided a nutritionally balanced meal."
The Del Casino family of Charlotte has as many as 14 people for Sunday dinner, including sons, wives and grandsons. According to family patriarch Joe Del Casino, the main dish is Pasta a la Memaw, made by his wife, Connie Del Casino:
"Anyone who has ever sat at our table will tell you that the best Italian food in the country can be found in Memaw's kitchen.
"Memaw says, 'If you want to bring your family together and form permanent bonds of love and respect, just prepare a great meal abundantly seasoned with love and they will come. It must be sprinkled with unabridged conversation in which nothing is off the table.' "
