Saturday, August 18, 2012

Day 39--Adventures in Cooking

Since Husband's parents were visiting this weekend, we did the tourist thing and went downtown to the Library of Congress. I had never been in before because the only time I went, they told me I couldn't bring in a stroller, so Sister 2 went inside and I stayed outside and played with the baby on the grass. Frankly, I'm sad now that I have lived here all these years and never went inside because it is amazing. It is very beautifully decorated with lots of pre-Raphaelite style murals and quotes about books, and wisdom, and literature. My favorite is from Thomas Jefferson who simply said "I cannot live without books." I completely agree. I agree so much that I bought a cookbook in the gift shop to add to my collection.

I firmly believe that one cannot overbuy cookbooks. But one CAN buy the wrong cookbooks. I have some that I never open, like the one that had 17 steps for making potato salad. Or the one that requires ingredients you can only find in China. It was fabulous in China but not so great in the US. And then there is the one someone gave me that we call 101 ways to make jell-o. Ick. But this new one is full of county and state fair recipe winners and looks like a winner itself. I told the girls, who were urging me to buy it, that this could be our year of adventurous cooking and we could pick one new recipe a week and try it. It's my secret plan to get them to help me with the cooking. We'll see if it works.

I'm not so sure, however, that there is much hope we will find something new and exciting. This is because I have discovered I have a house full of picky eaters which is throwing me off a bit because I never thought I would raise picky eaters. I never cooked them separate meals and I always made them try everything and now Child 1 hates mangoes, Child 2 doesn't like spaghetti, and Child 3 complains about everything we put on her plate, including tonight's watermelon salad. Husband and I decided to try something new tonight based on this recipe we found in Slate. Feta and watermelon is actually quite delicious, but each of the children individually said when they saw the lovely salad, "Why is there cheese in the watermelon?!"


I know I shouldn't complain because they like mushrooms and they eat eggplant (as long as it's in ratatouille) and they love olives which is good because they wouldn't be my children if they didn't. I would disown them. Eating olives is not negotiable in our house. But sometimes I wish they would like my lasagna and try watermelon with feta without complaining and saying, "Is it just me or does this cheese taste like nothing?" Well, if it was nothing, then why wouldn't you eat it?

These people on an Air France flight to Lebanon had a worse day than me. Not only was their flight diverted and they had to land in Syria (Syria!), then Air France asked them to help pay for the extra fuel it would take to get to Lebanon. So thank you, Air France, for reminding me to be grateful that I neither need to fly to Lebanon nor would ever have to do it on your airline.


1 comment:

  1. for several years of her life my daughter would not eat potatoes...I didn't know how I could have such a child. She has since repented and she is indeed my child, but sheesh! k.

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