The platter was as delicious as the photo of it is blurry. I know, that’s saying a lot.
This platter was from a few Saturdays back when I hosted two of my brothers and their significant others for dinner. I still can’t get over the fact that they are old enough to have significant others, let alone that they have been legally old enough to drive themselves to my house for years now. I wish there were more words in the English language to capture what it feels like to see your childhood all grown up around a dinner table, talking about their careers and drinking beer. You know, that mix of shocked acceptance, contented joy, and overwhelming gratitude? Maybe the word I’m looking for is surreal? Maybe. I think I’ll just keep things simple and say it was weird. Here are a few things I’ve learned from feeding my younger brothers the past 20 or so years.
Don’t take your meals too seriously. If you do, you will be mocked. Or disappointed. Most likely both. Remember, your younger siblings have likely been living off not much more than stale Wonder Bread and rubbery chicken nuggets since you last fed them. Their microwaved brains won’t know what to do with a culinary masterpiece. They literally can’t comprehend the amount of time and effort that goes into making a gorgeous homemade meal because they’re so often deprived of it, poor dears. Either that or they are simply too self involved to appreciate your labor (a very real possibility). Regardless, unless you enjoy being disappointed by family or you yourself are craving a fancy meal, just serve them pasta and maybe a side salad. They’ll be blown away that there are still foods that exist that are naturally green.
Make what you like. Because damn it, you have good taste and you’re the one cooking. If it’s one of your siblings’ birthdays or they actually did something with their lives worth celebrating, go ahead and ask them what they want to eat. But otherwise, you call the shots. This is actually a very selfless act. You’re taking the pressure off your siblings to choose what’s for dinner and the blame falls on your shoulders if the meal falls short (but we both know it won’t. Because you’re the flawless firstborn). You’re also building trust (which is important if you have decades of tattletaling and backstabbing to make up for) and exposing them to new ideas and flavors. Choosing what’s for dinner may be the greatest thing you could do for your sibling relationship. And if not, at least you’ll have plenty of tasty leftovers that you don’t have to share.
Let them contribute every once and awhile. Sure, you’re the older sibling and you obviously have things handled, but helping out is what family’s all about. Have your brother hold your baby while you set food on the table, ask them to bring drinks or dessert or a side dish. It gives the whole thing more of a community feel and less like a Cinderella feel. If you’re anything like me, you prefer to be the one taking care of everyone else. But it’s important to let your siblings have the opportunity to show their love for you as well. That being said…
Let sibling dinners be a pay it forward event, not a pay it back. Hopefully in the future, your younger sibling will host their younger sibling and the youngest sibling will host some stray cats or something. These sibling dinners have the opportunity to create a beautiful chain of events if you approach them with a generous heart. Besides, considering all you’ve already done for them throughout their lives, there’s no way they could even begin to pay you back anyway.
Platter details: “Chicken Sliders Three Ways” Chicken salad, chicken fingers, blue cheese and caramelized onion chicken patties, Hawaiian sweet rolls, veggie toppings, condiments, sweet potato fries, chips, fruit and veggies.
