One of these things is not like the others.
Apr 11th, 2008 by B.
I’ve been giving this whole cooking thing a try. I’ve got several months with not much going on, so why not learn to cook, right? Naturally I started with some of my favorite things. Beyond rice-a-roni & the creation of the world’s best banana muffins, I’ve been working heavily in thai (my all-time favorite kind of food). Coconut milk and curry paste, fish sauce and peanuts, bananas and jasmine rice all adorn the shelves of my cupboard and pantry these days.
And let me tell you, this cooking stuff is the bomb. Most of the hot & spicy dishes I’d been missing for 2+ years I could’ve had all along. Here’s the kicker, though… Jim and the girls hate most of the new stuff. Their idea of ‘exotic food’ is americanized italian pasta dishes. In the past few weeks here’s what I’ve come to learn about their culinary preferences:
worcestershire sauce: good / soy sauce: bad
garlic salt: good / fresh minced garlic: bad
paprika: good / curry: bad
cinnamon: good / ginger: bad
macaroni noodles: good / rice noodles: bad
french toast: good / shrimp toast: bad
spaghetti sauce: good / fish sauce: bad
bananas in muffins: good / bananas in coconut milk: bad (is it just me, or does ‘bananas in muffins’ sound naughty??)
potato salad: good / cucumber salad: bad
I couldn’t be more diametrically opposed to this setup if I tried. However, they do outnumber me, which means I usually end up making at least two meals per night. The other day I suggested we each write down what we wanted for dinner that evening and I’d draw a winner. Here were the entries-
Robyn: ravoli
Sydney: macaroni & cheese
Jim: baked chicken
Me: pad thai with shrimp
As the Sesame Street song goes:
I have sort of the same problem. The German will eat spicey, although much milder than I and won’t eat anchovies. He also comes home so late he often can’t eat with us. Thing 1 will barely eat anything and would prefer to subsist on eggs and drinkable yogurt, although she loves sosa (soy sauce on plain rice- and it better not be brown). Thing 2 will eat anything, even when she might regret it (like vindaloo- not because I want her to!).She loves spicey picles, pickled herring in cream sauce, etc. I can’t figure out what to make, have a tiny fridge and almost non-existant freezer and seem to default to turkey hot dogs (they eat eggs at school) and pasta, which is playing havoc with me!
What to do?
Although it can’t help you now, I was reading something interesting the other day. A group of scientists did a study on food eaten by the mother throughout gestation of the baby and the food likes/dislikes of the resulting children. After following the mommies and children through ten years they discovered that the foods which were preferred by the children in later years was the same type of food eaten by the mother while she was carrying them.
Perhaps if you had eaten more Thai while carrying your girls, then you would have better luck now.
I really don’t know what to say about it, usually I am quite skeptical about such studies. All I can say is that I’m pretty sure that if it is true, the son of my ex is now consuming copious amounts of Kentucky Fried Chicken’s mashed potatoes and gravy.
Snooker’s last blog post..The New U-55 Subway Line
i’d have to side with the masses on this one…
there is never any circumstance where the words “fish” and “sauce” used together could ever be a good thing…
although on your last example of potato salad vs. cucumber salad… it’s just a lose/lose…
In my house, the cook picks the meal and if you bitch, you cook next the next meal. There is a lot less bitching now.
Hexe’s last blog post..A Boat Tour of Brugge
When’s dinner ?
Spicy Thai .. count me in.
I’m so glad Rainer and I don’t have issues about food. I’ve even converted my German into a Reisfresser. And if Oliver don’t like Thai food, well then he’s just shit outta luck.
ChristinaG’s last blog post..Video Wednesday: Texas Lightning
Yep, yep, yep. Same thing here. 15 yr old will eat just about anything, as will I, but husband and 12 year old are totally picky and each in his own peculiar way. Raisins, coconut, capers, melon and anything hot and spicy is off the list. It’s really frustrating at time to have to make the Same Old Thing over and over again. Oh well.
christina’s last blog post..meme, my shelf and I
Got a good curry recipe? I’ve been wanting to try and make a curry. If you like spicy food, my Chinese exchange student should come cook for you. She is from Chengdu where they have very spicy food (Sichuan recipes if you’re looking). She burns our mouths quite a lot when she cooks, and then comments, oh this isn’t hot
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