「ママ、今日の夕ご飯なに~？」は4時半ぐらいになると聞こえるいつもの質問。「ハンバーグ」→「わ~い！」 あるいは、「焼肉」 → 「い えぃ！」 あるいは、「カレー」 → 「やったぁ~！」 と運ぶわけ。たまに、「野菜入りうどん」 → 「あ~あ （失望の音）」となることもある。とこ ろが、反応が返ってこず質問攻めになる場合もあり。それはチゲ鍋のとき。「ママ、今日のごはんなに~？」 → 「チゲ」 → 「なにそれ？」 → 「チゲ というのは韓国語でお鍋だから、韓国風お鍋ということよ。」 → 「なんだっけ、それ？」 韓国メニューの好きな我が家だけど、「チゲ」という言葉だけ はどうしても頭に残らないらしい。そもそも、鍋物は冬にしかやらないので、毎年せっかく覚えても春、夏と過ごすうちに記憶から消えるらしい。家族で囲む鍋 は幸せなもの、とくに寒いときは。。。我が家は相当なことがない限り、家族4人で夕食をするというのが日課。結婚して19年、家族で（最初はふたりだけ ど）夕飯を食べないのは、出張時を除けばほとんどない。子どもが小さいころ、夜パーティーなどにお呼ばれしてちゃんと夕食を食べて帰ってくるのに、帰りの 車のなかで、「ママ、今日の夕ご飯なに~？」とよく聞かれたもの。テーブルに4人で揃って食べないと「夕ご飯を食べた」ということにならないらしい。我が 家の小さな誇りかな。
"Mom, what are we having dinner?" This is the question I get around 4:30 every day. I answer, "Meet patty," then they go "Yeah!" I reply, "Yakiniku", then they scream, "Wow!" When I say, "Vegetable noodle in soup," tough, they go, "uuuuugh." Usually I get an instant feedback, but sometime I get lots of questions instead. That is the case when I say, "We are going to have Chige." They go, "What?" I say, "Chige is a Korean word for hot pot, so it's a hot pot, Korean style." Since we only have hot pots in winter, the word registers with them finally by the end of winter and over spring and summer, it is quickly erased each year. Anyway, today's menu is Chige, and a hot pot is just wonderful to have as a family on a cold rainy day like today. It's our family motto to have dinner together at the table every day. It's been 19 years since I married my husband, but there has been only countable days that we (just two of us at the beginning) did not have dinner together, excluding when my husband was on business trips. When kids were little, whenever we had "dinner" at parties or at friend's house, they used to ask me in the car on the way home, "Mom, what are we having dinner today?" "Dinner" we do not have as a family at the table simply does not register with them as dinner. It's a tiny thing but something we take pride in...
