I’ve been rather sad lately. There are these little things that just bring it all on. I’m hoping it’s a phase that I’ll eventually get past because I can’t stand it.
One of these little things has been meal time. Before I came the boys ate a lot of fast food. I don’t eat fast food, and really refuse to eat it unless we’re on a road trip. It’s been almost two months now and we’ve gone to fast food maybe a total of three times.
Anyway, I love cooking. My dad and neighbor taught me to cook. I’m one of those cooks who will take a recipe and makes it my own. I rarely ever use measuring tools (unless I’m baking…usually). Well, I’ve had to dumb down some of my recipes.
The boys always talk about how I make new foods. My boyfriend jokes (but seriously says) "I'm culturally challenged." I think the are convinced that I’m a food inventor of some kind. Older Boy told me “When I grow up, I want to make new foods like you Crys.” In fact, the boyfriend and Middle Boy had this convo one night:
MB: Crys makes a lot of new foods for us
BF: Have you ever thought that these are foods that we just haven’t tried yet?
MB: *Lost look of confusion followed by shoulder shrug*
Me: I used to eat Pizza Tortillas when I was a little girl. They’re new to you, but not to me.
MB: Oh *smiles*
Anyway, I come from a multi-ethnic household, as well as I learned how to mix and combine foods. I grew up with a lot of foods from my different cultures. I grew up with some great cooks in my family and neighborhood that taught me some tricks and secrets. Actually, I grew up with foods from all kinds of cultures. I love watching the food network. When I visit anywhere my favorite thing to do is to try the food. I can taste a sauce and tell you what I think it needs or what I can taste in it.
I decided to try and introduce some of the foods from my childhood - more specifically some Filipino foods. And man, they were not welcomed well by some of the boys.
It made me sad. Two fits were thrown at the dinner table. One of them was sent to bed early and the other was gently reminded that fits are not allowed in this household.
Basically, the point of this post is that it made me sad. The incident made me feel that I can’t enjoy my favorite foods from my cultures - from any other culture. It made me quite a bit upset that I felt that I can’t enjoy my favorite foods.
Now, I realize that things take time. I need much patience for them to get used to homemade meals and to slowly introduce them to foods from other cultures (so far older boy has been introduced to Hispanic foods, German foods and Thai foods). I realize this. But it doesn’t make me want (crave) these delicious food any less. And it is frustrating to me that I feel like I can’t make/cook/have them.
Positive Things (I’ve been told) that happen at meal time:
The TV gets turned off and we eat as a family at the dinner table
The boys get a more nutritious (as many food groups met) meal
The boys are encouraged to try new foods
And my favorite:
I can slowly start to stop dumbing down my recipes as they slowly learn to enjoy the different herbs, spices and vegetables I like to cook with.
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5 comments:
ugh. ramona ONLY EATS pb&j, cereal, quesadillas, salami, and spaghetti. ONLY EATS THAT. not even joking. and throws a (excuse me, but this is serious) FUCKING FIT if anything else is placed in front of her to eat. and boyfriend, rather than be a grown up and standing up to her makes her one of those things. like, she just ate salami yesterday. i got home and was appalled and embarrassed. what if her mom came over and saw what she was eating? i've asked boyfriend, and apparently she eats the same thing at her mom's house. we'll have dinner, a totally different dinner, and he'll make her a pb&j sandwich.
ridiculous. she's an only child and i can see when she plays with my friend's daughter that she's used to getting her own way. she brags a lot about every little thing, she always has to be first, she's not a gracious winner. it's really frustrating. oh, and i can't blog about it on my blog because people read it.
anyway, so i feel your pain. you're doing wonderful things. WONDERFUL.
I also like to cook. Have you tried asking them to help you prepare the recipes? This might make them more willing to try them considering that they invested time in making them.
I do let them help when it's practical. I do a lot of cutting and sauteing, so it's not always great to let them help. But I do always ask for some help when baking or when doing pancakes. It's great having an extra two to four hands.
When I was a kid, I had a fight with my parents for literally more than an hour because I didn't want to try what is now one of my favorite meals. (There was a lot of screaming and crying involved in that incident.) It was my mom's policy growing up that we had to try at least one bite of each meal, and if then we didn't like it, then we could make a sandwich. (She now jokes that the policy backfired because now I'm eating weird bugs and stuff... but that's beside the point.) Anyway, when I was a kid change was scary and I fought long and hard at trying new things. What I'm getting at is that if you give it some time, perhaps they will warm up to your new foods. One day, they'll probably end up appreciating the fact that you exposed them to so many unique cuisine. (And P.S. ... I'm SOOOOO jealous of anyone with a kitchen right now!!! I can't wait to be able to cook again!)
You are so lucky, I wish I knew how to cook/enjoyed cooking. I think of it as a chore and I dread it almost every evening. I have unfortunately not transferred my love of exotic foods to my kids, but I remember being that way when I was young too, I'm hoping it changes. Right now, it's mostly pork chops, steak, chicken, potatoes, green beans, corn, spaghetti, pasta and chicken, chx nuggets, spaghettio's, shrimp poppers and taco salad minus the salad.
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