VERY TERI: Family Dinners

Teri was a well known writer. Critters in town always flocked to read her latest newspaper story. She brought tales of a faraway lifestyle, tucked somewhere behind a grave of trees down the beaten path to the countryside. Although life in the countryside was more idyllic, Teri always knew how to spice any topic up with her sassy self. She had opinions on everything, and critters treated her writing like a trip to the countryside on a casual afternoon. It was fair to say that she was somewhat of a celebrity. Critters cared about what Teri had to chime in.

But, Teri was a personal critter, too. She did yearn for aspects of her life back in town. Beyond her shell of fashion and dance posture advice, she had her own unique habits known to very few. One day, she decided to test her celebrity writer status. What would my fans think if I wrote about my own life habits?

Teri thought to herself in the midst of preparing the weekly Friday family dinner. Fridays were special for her family back when life was much more bustling in town. Friday meant a relaxing evening before her husband, Frasier, would have a busy sale of sweets over the weekend. Friday also meant the children completing yet another week of school. So, Friday’s were very significant indeed. Friday night dinner was not to be your average, simplistic one. It was to be long, full of well spread conversation, and dishes that would catch eyes.

By moving into the countryside, Teri had cut off her access to a wider variety of dinner preparation ingredients. Although Teri had moved into the countryside, she had continued the Friday family dinner tradition with her daughters. During Friday dinners, everyone was to go everyone talking about how their week had been over a comforting home cooked meal. Lateness was not tolerated.

Yet, this Friday was peculiar in the fact that Teri found herself very busy today. In the morning, she had fixed up a quick meal for her children before starting with house maintenance chores. She washed the hammocks, listened to Breeze’s new piano skills, and composted the week’s vegetable scraps.

Even after all that, there was still more to do! That afternoon, Teri was to get started on tonight’s meal. “Be good!” she said to her daughter, Freya, before leaving the Lakeside Lodge. She almost ran out of the door in a hurry.

She needed to drive to the Tuxedo Cats’ house equipped with a Bakery Starter Set, which was a twenty five minute drive away.

Mason and Natalie noticed Teri’s Cherry Cruiser pulling in, and knew that a customer was on their way. She was in her neat pink, and white dress as usual. In this slight sunlight, she dawned a pink party hat to match her mood.

“Hello, what can I get for you today?” Mason asked Teri politely.

“I’ll have a batard and a campagne today,” she said.

“Excellent choice! Lily, grab Mrs. T. Choch a campagne and batard,” Mason responded. Lily hurried in her perfectly fitted apron to grab Teri a campagne and batard.

“What do I owe you? I can give you the two slices of town pizza I brought along,” she offered.

“That will do!”

Teri drove back home in a car smelling like delicious French bread! When she got home, she started working on Friday dinner. She planned on making tomatoes sauteed with fresh yellow bell peppers. The acidity of the tomatoes would blend in nicely with the natural sweetness of the bell pepper. It was fair to say that Teri’s cooking skills had improved over the few weeks that she had started cooking. Her earlier attempts at tomato soup were disastrous.

“It smells delicious!” Freya commented to her mother as she began setting the table.

Each seat received a clean white plate and fork.

Dinnertime came quicker than the time actually felt. While Teri had been busy bustling about the kitchen, everyone had taken the chance to take a shower. The Chocolate Rabbits that resided in the countryside all huddled around the table to enjoy French bread and vegetables in their best form.

Kabe, short in stature, put his arms up on the table to get closer to the delicious aromas.

Although his size was small, he had a big appetite for vegetables!The rabbits divided up the bread evenly, and then proceeded to fill their plates. It was common knowledge that the more colorful a critter could make their plate the better. Tonight, plates were filled with vibrant red, bright yellow orange, and a warm brown.

“So, how was your week, Breeze?” Freya prompted. Afterall, half of the aspect of family dinner was the conversation and bonding time itself. Breeze said a few words and smiled to communicate her enjoyable week. Dinner lasted longer than usual, prompting Teri to usher all three children to bed as soon as possible. They slept quickly, looking forward to the weekend.

When Teri was just about to get into her hammock too, a thought entered her head. She had not written a VERY TERI post today! Quickly, Teri got out her fresh MEMO cards and a sharpened pencil.

There was nothing so invigorating as the smell of fresh parchment and shaved graphite to Teri. The smells meant that there was a blank new page for Teri to fill with her celebrity personality.

Teri wrote:

If there had ever been one VERY TERI that Teri was passionate about, it was this one. Teri was passionate about introducing all families to this ritual. In her views, it was a practice that had all the right benefits and no negatives. She was correct. Critters read her writing and were inspired to try it. Soon, Teri’s phone was bursting with grateful phone calls.

“Hello, who is it?” Teri would ask after reaching for the phone yet again.

“It’s Mayor Arthur Cuddlebear,” a confident and professional voice answered. It was a voice that could only belong to the mayor of Cloverleaf Corners.

“Oh, good afternoon, mayor!”

“Teri, I just had to praise and thank you personally. Your recent VERY TERI post about family dinner practices is just wonderful. Critters in town cannot stop discussing their first family dinner. Plus, we have seen a great increase in fresh produce purchases. Peppers, carrots, tomatoes, vegan eggs, and more! Guess you’ll have to share your tomato and bell pepper recipe soon! We’ve seen some attempts at replication, but critters are curious what Teri herself does.”

Teri chuckled. “I will consider that. I am happy to hear about this post’s success.” Her mind already began wandering to teaching cooking…