Sunday Brunch

March 28th, 2010 - Sunday Brunch. There is something very special about going to Sunday Brunch. It is not like going going out to breakfast, which should be done early, while the coffee is just fresh and the newspapers are still readable. And it should be done in your sweats, especially at a little local place. Going to lunch means you do have to put actual 'street' clothes on, you need to get there before noon (unless you want an hour wait) and the primary focus is on quick food and a catch up with a friend whose busy life resemables yours. Ahh, but Brunch, now that is a whole different ball game.

Going to brunch is special, it takes planning. The planning begins when you decide on a time. Too early and you might miss all the wonderful meats and salads and too late means you could miss the eggs benedict and the pecan sweetrolls. So the perfect time is usally around 10:30 or 11:00. Once you picked the time, pick, your outfit, as you see brunch means over eating. Call it sampling all the fare, or a little bit of breakfast and a little of lunch, but anyway you slice it you will over eat. Thus what you wear is very important. It has to be dressy enough to say, yes I can easily affort a $20 meal, loose enough to allow room for growth, as you begin to fill up, and busy enough to hide the various stains of food that will inevitably fall on to your garments. Next plan, how to attack the buffet. When first seated, right after you order a mimosa or bloody mary (of course you should, after all this is brunch) you will quickly excuse yourself to take a 'quick survellance' of the food table. Time to plan your strategy. Start with eggs, skip the pancakes and french toast, hit the sausage, and of course, take your first piece of Prime Rib. As you leave quickly reach in and grab a muffin. As you return to your seat, you will be come the watcher of the purses while everyone else goes to the buffet. Any resemblance to watching anyone's purse is purely accidental. The only thing you are watching is your mimosa, which needs filling, and your food on your plate quickly disappearing. That's when you say, "what's taking everyone so long". As the folks arrive back at the table you have to marvel at the different strategies for filling their plates. Grandma will take two maybe three cubes of cut of fruit, a piece of cheese, a dallop of scrambled eggs and a half slice of wheat bread. Cousin Ann, who still weighs what she did after finishing her first triathelon, will have a plate full of fruit, vegetables, beans, any kind but baked, tofu, and enough sprouts to cover the entire plate. Not to worry, your brother Jim, never lets you down. He comes back to the table with an entire cow, a pigs hind end, half a chicken, and to round it out a skillet of hash browns. Now it is your turn for round two. No matter what you pick this time, you will ofcourse, have your second piece of prime rib. And that is how the time progresses, eat, talk family, eat, laugh at the cute things the kids or grandkids are doing, eat, discuss politics...then announce it is time to wrap up, before anyone gets to riled up. Note to self..politics and brunch do not go together.

I always thought brunch was God's way of saying slow down, connect with the family, enjoy life and its bounties. And I still believe that, but it is also a lesson in disbelief. Because I no sooner get settled into the car, put my seat belt on, and put the car in drive, when my son, or husband or daughter look at me and ask, "what's for dinner".....I am starving!