that's it. i'm going on strike. the blasted children have refused to eat any of the lovingly prepared, carefully crafted, nutritionally sound dishes i have placed before them for days, the ungrateful wretches. the family shall have to fend for itself because henceforth i am cooking solely for my own gratification. i totally agree with lucinda - it's a waste of time making darling little meatballs, kiddie-size anythings (except the pies i made a few weeks ago), special salads etc, esp. when it is so often refused or rejected. lola seems to be subsisting on breastfeeds, petit suisse and the whites of hard-boiled eggs (although perhaps with less breastfeeds she would eat more), max lives off breakfast, apples and darvida crackers, plus handfuls of raisins, and bruno eats at mostly at work. i'm left to eat up all the unfinished kiddie meals (saltless, chilli-less). great!
well, no more. i'm having the weekend off family cooking. no-one is going to fade away. i can't see any protuding ribs in this family. i, however, am going to cook all the things i never get to cook when i'm cooking for the family. lots of chilli, properly seasoned, and maybe a delicious pudding or two, or three. strangely, despite my love of puddings, both max and lola aren't very interested in the kind of heart-warming desserts that i love. biscuits, icecream and chocolate, yes, but sticky date pudding with toffee sauce? no. bread and butter pudding? no. rice pudding? no. crazy! i don't know what happened in the genetic whirlpool, but they got the swiss biscuit and chocolate genes, not the english pudding genes.
please excuse the unfinished re-design. i just can't bear to look at those old colours anymore. new banner coming soon, just have to consult the photoshop help pages a few more times....
postscript: further confirmation that simple is better. lola just ate a whole mango, sliced small with a clementine, and yet another egg white. i don't know why i bother cooking anything!!!!
Take heart, my children have emerged from the only-eat-pasta phase and my older daughter now embraces chilli. Forget about running an a la carte restaurant and cook what you like.
Posted by: ag | January 08, 2005 at 09:54 PM
Oh I sympathise!
At the moment, my theory is that the children like to taste the individual flavours while adults prefer complexity. The children seems to be happiest with a deconstructed meal: cheese in one area, raw carrot, lettuce, cucumber, perhaps some roast pumpkin, a slice of apple, sliced ham or chicken, steamed rice, toast which can be dipped into egg or baked beans. Don't put anything on top of anything else; the exception is avocado on toast. Forget casseroles, pasta with sauce, scrambled eggs. I haven't tried stir fries or risotto for ages.
My biggest success at the moment is that all 3 children are scoffing roast chicken (Molly eats the roast veg, too, but not Sally or Harry), and they all adore chicken soup.
Posted by: lucinda | January 10, 2005 at 03:20 AM
thanks for the reassurance and advice, ag and lucinda! i look forward to the day when i can cook just one (grown-up, tasty) meal for the whole family... we will sit down together at a civilised hour and consume it without jumping up every 10 seconds for dishcloths/smaller spoons/sauces/mineral waters/other favoured foods etc. i can but dream!
y'know, i'm going to try a roast chook, lucinda. but it makes me so sad that there won't be any roasted pumpkin to go with it. the swiss just don't do pumpkin *sigh*
Posted by: kitschenette | January 11, 2005 at 08:24 PM