Our table usually consists of my wife and myself, along with our young twin boys. The table seats 6 and is rather long. If we had to wait for those two idiots (I say that in a loving sense ) to pass the food, we would go hungry.

9-10 times I usually just plate the food myself and try to make it look decent. I rarely garnish anything. Special occasions? Ok then I might throw some mint on the side of a cheesecake, etc.. But garnish on meatloaf night is overkill.

It is just my husband and I so we usually plate the food in the kitchen and carry it out to the table to eat. We do not use garnishes to make the dish artful. We do usually have homemade dishes not all this new boxed dishes that are available in the grocery stores.

If people read labels I don't think anyone with the brains God gave a turnip would touch those boxed things. Lots of sodium. Lots of high fructose corn syrup (read "sugar"). Lots of preservatives. And little nutritional value.

What really amuses me are those Crockpot Classics. Apparently, it's really inconvenient for some people to take ten minutes to prep meat and veggies and toss them in a slow cooker. So now, in the frozen food section, is something with all that done for you (as well as the sodium--sugar--preservative mix that is de rigeur). At a real hefty premium at that.

I'm not big on slow cookers in the first place. But, my God! How hard can it be to do a little prep work first?

LOL - those frozen crockpot crappies! Sorry - homemade is my style. Been like thtat all my life - too old to change now - and not interested in changing! Crockpot cooking is such a no-brainer to begin with. I'm not putting down anyone who needs to cook like that - but - it doesn't take long to prep veggies for the crockpot - and - it sure doesn't take much to put a meal together - HOMEMADE!

You mentioned A stove in the cellar for making sauce. Sauce is not messy - only the cook making the sauce is. I cannot stand anything splattered - I wipe immediately and I take the stove apart and wash with the dishes - that is how it has been forever in my house. We had a stove in the basement and one in the kitchen and you ran your butt off cooking meals and using both stoves and ovens at the same time. Cripe - we have 2 stoves now - one upstair and one down and cooking and baking keeps you running! Someday I will have a kitchen with a large stove with a double oven, also a 5 burner cooktop, and a double wall oven - then it will be easier on the legs!

It's not unusual to have several tables set up for large family dinners and have men at one table and women and children at another. Sometimes the kings will even fill and re-fill their own dishes that way - sometimes. But a woman is used to running around the kitchen while trying to eat anyway!

Another thing about crockpots - it kills me when people make cakes in the crockpot. OMG - 20 - 30 minutes in the oven and its done compared to 2 1/2 - 3 hours in the crockpot! Makes no sense to me!

I have never heard of using a Crockpot to make a cake...you got to be kidding. Cakes are so easy to make mix the ingredients together and pour in a pan and bake in the oven.

Crockpot's are good for couples who both work and they want to come home to a home cooked meal without the all the hassle of making the full meal when they get home. It especially works for cooking a corned beef with cabbage on low heat or perhaps stews. Of course I would only make a dish in the Crockpot if it was homemade with fresh ingredients.