Olive Oil

My family ate at a wonderful Italian resturant, Milano's, a few weeks ago. It is a quaint, crisp place with square tables and white table cloths. I had heard of this place and was excited we were eating here. My daughter is a very picky eater and I insisted she try something other than cheesesticks. She finally chose a meal along with everyone else. They brought us these small dishes with oil in them and then this round loaf of bread. My children immediately turned their noses about this oil. The waiter politely explained the olive oil had herbs in it to dip the bread into. Well this intriged my children to try this. It was wonderful. We enjoyed the bread and oil so much they brought four loaves to us during our dinner. Our entrees arrived and I could tell my daughter did not care for hers. She did, love the bread and oil. We all had a good laugh over the great restaurant and my daughter explained that just because she likes to go to different places she doesn't like different food always. When we came home we talked about the bread and oil so I began looking for the oil. I was lucky enough to find the exact same olive oil and bought bread. That night for supper I poured the oil and warmed the bread and my children were delighted. We sat around the table and talked while eating our meal. Breaking the bread apart and dipping connected our family in new ways. We discovered this new delight together and have included in our mealtime ritual. Tonight we sat on the deck eating and dipping. My son picked up the bottle of olive oil and asked why is this so good? Why is this so good? It doesn't get any better than this. Sitting with my family around the table. Having food to eat. Simple, interesting conversation. Cool breeze blowing. Fresh cut grass. The little nuthatch grabbing a sunflower seed. Live sounds all around. Simply wonderful. Sweetened with a little oil.