Sister has (very gently & kindly) *requested* blog posts from me. Apparently one or two posts a year was not quite what she had in mind when she invited me to contribute to her blog!
(Adrienne’s edit: In all honesty, I want to read what she has to write! We live 1,500 miles away. I haven’t seen her in nearly three years. A post from my sister is a glimpse into her world… and it’s so unlike mine. I love it.)
I have been trying very diligently to expand my families horizons when it comes to trying new food. Neither Matthew or I grew up with a real wide variety of foods and so quite a lot of the expansion has been quite challenging for us as well as the boys. In regards to this, I bought mushrooms for the 1st time in my life. I had to call a friend to find out how to clean them and whether or not the stems were edible… I then chopped a couple very small and put them in spaghetti sauce. No one knew. Success! A day later, while making the boys tuna sandwiches for lunch, I got them out again. While I was draining the tuna the boys were rummaging through the bags of vegetables that were waiting to be chopped and added to the tuna. They found the mushrooms. The conversations between the 2 oldest boys -both 5- went something like this:
(all at a whisper)
Brent: “Hey, Gus, look at these. What are these things?”Gus: “I don’t know….. They look like little aliens or something.”Brent: “What’s she gonna do with them?”Gus: *GASP* “You don’t think she’s gonna put them in our tuna, do you?!”Brent: *Gasp* “I bet she is!… (now we move to a yell) MOM!!! What are these things???!”Me: “mushrooms…”Gus: “Are you gonna put them in our tuna??!”Me: “Yup. But I promise I’ll only put one in and I’ll chop it real small so you can’t taste it to much. Sound like a good deal?”
Knowing that they didn’t really have a choice except to possibly get more than one if they wanted that helped their attitude to being willing to try one chopped very small. They did inform later that the mushroom was just fine and didn’t ruin their sandwiches at all.
Hooray for progress!
(Again, Adrienne’s edit: Mushrooms are one of my favorite foods. They are also the favorite of several of my children. We buy at least a pound a week. Again, a different world… even in the kitchen! Plus, I’ve been dying for you all to see her About Me at the bottom of her posts. I’ve been waiting and waiting for a post to spill the news!)
YES, GIRL!!!!! Haha!!! I don’t eat mushrooms at all. I pick them out if I buy a frozen meal that has them. Hehe!
Alex, you’re too much like your dad. He hates mushrooms and pretty much any ‘odd’ vegetable – or food for that matter – that isn’t corn, peas or beans, whereas I LOVE mushrooms, but can’t even cook them in the same pan with food your father will eat be eating. You’re smart to start your children young to try different foods. Kudos to you girl. I’m with Adrienne, as I love reading your posts as well. Please, keep them coming.