Lunch can get monotonous and spiritless fast if you allow it. The daily sandwich, with its similar bread choices and fixings, can look and taste like days upon days of sandwiches before it. Soon, lunch becomes a daily gastronomic ritual. Grab a sandwich. Eat. Repeat. But lunch doesn’t have to be humdrum. Unveiling the mid-day meal--even if you know what’s in it because you packed it yourself—should pique your senses and impress you with its elegance.

Are there ever times where you just feel like treating yourself? Like most people, my life is filled with chaos between running to work and then the gym. Making dinner. Cleaning the house. Doing laundry. It never seems to end. Then there are times where I just have to stop myself, take a deep breath and force myself to relax.

Fresh Strawberries

After a day of hiking, canoeing and nature hunts, my family can really work up a hearty appetite at dinner time.  “Mom, I’m so hungry I could eat the bark off a tree,” exclaims my youngest son while the oldest laments, “Bark, that reminds me of hotdogs.