Now I’m being a but naughty with this post. Am I talking about the TV show? Or my actual Friday night dinner. Actually a bit of both. If you’re unfamiliar with the show then.. well, you’ll need to hurry but you can find it here.

So what’s the connection? In the show the two grown up sons Adam and Jonny return to their family home every Friday for Shabbat dinner. There’s also a return to their teenage (or earlier) behaviours.  They squabble and prank each other,  and alternately tease their Mum or vie for her attention.  This seemed familiar, not the way the brothers behaved to each other, but their regression. For years whenever I returned home I’d become the sulky teen I had never actually been. It also made me think of the last Christmas we had when my Mum was well, and how much she enjoyed having both her girls around her having a good natured competition over a quiz. And I identify with Jackie Goodman, because I love it when MasterS* visits. And love to cook for him, even though he’s a good cook himself**. It’s not a return to the family home for him, unlike the Goodman boys he’s  had at least six of those. And he’s never lived in this house.

Which brings me to my Friday night dinners. That tradition started at the turn of the century. I had split up from MasterS’s father and moved into a flat of my own. MasterS lived between our two flats*,** spending Wednesday through to Sunday afternoon with me. I didn’t work Fridays and the mornings would be school run, an actual run, and the shopping run. School finished at lunchtime, I’d pick up MasterS, sometimes we’d have lunch in a cafe and then we’d go home for the weekend. And in the evening MrS (though he wasn’t that then) would come around for Friday night dinner.  A tradition began. And continues.

These days it’s usually just the two of us, oh and DogS of course. But some things don’t change. I try to set a pretty table, we have meat , or more usually fish (we don’t eat these much during the week), and wine. Even though neither of us have “nine to five” jobs any more,  Friday marks the start of the weekend. We have lunch out,**** do the shopping,  go to the fishmonger, then go home to prepare our Friday night dinner.*****

Until tomorrow

 *and girlfriend

** they both are

***we lived fairly close to each other in the same city

****prelockdown

*****keeping this going