Luke hates corn on the cob. Just hates it. Or does he? You be the judge:

No Corn Left Behind

I like nachos, I really do. The problem is that when I eat them I always have this inner conflict about the toppings. I want every chip to have the proper allocation of meat, tomatoes, sour cream, etcetera. Meaning I want each chip to be identical. But this secret (well, not so anymore) conflict goes one step further. Not only do I want the proper allocation on each chip, but I want each bite to have the same ratio of chip to toppings. It’s a lot to stress about, and almost makes it not worth eating.

Almost. You know I still love my food, even if it is a tad off-balanced.

I have been trying to teach Luke that it is rude to lick a knife and then put it back into the butter, because other people will want to eat that butter and they would not appreciate having little boy spit (or anyone’s spit, for that matter) all over their bagel.

We had another lesson just this morning on the whole community food/utensil thing and it’s a good thing because…

Today a coworker brought in Homemade Chocolate Mini-Cheesecakes with a tub of Cool Whip for individual topping. It was like some sort of compulsion. Or maybe it was out of habit? We’ll call it a compulsive habit. Yes, I came so close; so close to licking that spoon. But then I remembered what I told Luke this morning about not licking the knife or sticking your finger in the butter, and I restrained.

Because I want to be a good example for my son.

I went to the city farmers’ market today with a friend. We brought the kids and had a blast. It was a grand opening of a newly rebuilt market so it was crowded. We waited in a few lines, bought a few things, ate some stuff, and after about an hour we were ready to go home. So we got some ice cream to cap off the morning and decided to sit out at the river’s edge to eat it. We couldn’t see a real easy way to get down there with the stroller so we thought we would take a shortcut across the freshly planted grass. It looked like mud covered in hay so we thought it was safe. Three steps in we realized, simultaneously, that it was not mud. And the layer of hay was not all that thick.

Oh yeah, we are hardcore. Simply shopping at a farmers’ market does not prove one to be into using organic products, but this day we were literally Into. Organic. Products.

When Luke was just an itty-bitty baby I made all of his baby food. It’s really a lot easier than you would think, and it tastes way better than the jarred stuff. The apples taste like apples, bananas taste like bananas, snozberries taste like snozberries!  Of course I do believe it’s also healthier, but that’s for someone else to debate. Since it worked out so well for Luke I have been looking forward to doing the same for Natalie. And now it’s time! She’s 5 months old and she’s doing great with the baby oatmeal we give her, and now it’s time to introduce some fruit.

I’ve been planning this for weeks. I had to buy new ice cube trays because I had mistakenly purged the old ones (“When am I ever going to use these? We have an ice-maker.”). I have a small food processor but I also bought a new food mill for times we are on the road or at a restaurant. Plus it is good for mashing up foods that have seeds or skins because it sifts them out. I had one with Luke but I had borrowed it from my sister. Now that she has another baby who is just three months older than Natalie I don’t think she will be loaning it out this time. Today I pureed bananas, blueberries, and steamed apples. I am freezing 1 ounce portions in the ice cube trays and I’ll have them bagged and labeled so all Mike will have to do is defrost, warm, and serve.

For now it’s just simple one ingredient foods. The real fun comes when you start mixing the flavors and adding spices. I can’t wait!

A few weeks ago Luke started repeating a saying that took us awhile to figure out, and when we did we were kind of disappointed because it sucked the humor right out. What we thought he was saying was “When I’m big I can be in the movies!”, but what he was really saying was “When I’m big I can get the movies.” Meaning he would be tall enough to get the DVDs off the shelf. But he still loves to talk about being big! And getting the movies!

Today during dinner we had a conversation about fish tacos. We had a party last night and tacos were on the menu. The main ingredient was Frank’s famous carne asada, but salmon was present for those a bit more adventurous. I don’t know what the deal is with fish tacos. I mean, the beauty of a perfect taco is that all the flavors blend perfectly together. You can’t do that if you throw a fish into the mix. But apparently they are big on the west coast and Taco Bell is getting on board. So Mike says, “I don’t know, fish tacos are getting big.”

Luke jumped right on board with the conversation with this gem: “Big so they can get the movies!” And as we were laughing he thought about it and revised his statement: “But they don’t have hands! They can’t get the movies.”

Yes, that does seem to pose a problem. I suppose fish tacos will never be in the movies.

I bought a couple different kinds of juice at my last grocery trip on Saturday. When I got home I put one jug of apple juice in the fridge so it would be cold later. Later, when it was cold, I poured myself a drink. I drank the whole glass and thought to myself, “this apple juice tastes funny.” I even asked Mike if he noticed that the apple juice tasted a little funny. He hadn’t noticed. Then at dinner time I drank another glass and thought to myself, “boy, this apple juice tastes funny.” A few hours passed and I went to the fridge to get another glass of apple juice (I do love me some apple juice, even if it tastes funny) and it was no where to be found. In its place was a jug of white cranberry juice.

Hmm. I’m thinkin’ maybe it wasn’t apple juice I was drinking all day.

That spreadable butter you can keep in the fridge is nice, but I worry about what they had to do to it to make it spreadable. I buttered a plain, room-temperature piece of bread for lunch and noticed after a few minutes that the butter was melting. For no apparent reason. Just melted right there in front of my eyes. Admit it, you would have been worried too.

I know butter and margarine cannot – and should not – be compared, but what about comparing butter to butter? The following photo is of two different blocks of butter purchased at two different discount grocery chains. If you open the photo to see it close up you’ll notice they were both packaged at the same plant. I can’t remember what the price difference was, but if I could it would make this comparison a lot more interesting.

I am not the best cook. Neither is my husband. We can do okay in the kitchen and we know how to follow a recipe (I make fantastic chocolate chip cookies) but dinners have always been a struggle. Our biggest problem seems to be answering the question “What’s for dinner?”. As much as we love to eat, we can never come up with good ideas when the time comes. It doesn’t help that my appetite has been waning since I had the baby. It also doesn’t help that Mike and I have totally different tastes in food. He is your stereotypical “meat and potatoes” guy and I love fruit and vegetables and pasta. I guess it is true that opposites attract.

My sister suggested to me (she is a whiz in the kitchen, a culinary school graduate in fact) that we make a list of five meals we like and just keep eating those five things over and over. We can always throw in something different every once in awhile to mix it up. So here is the challenge: what five dinner meals would be easy to make, tasty, and include all of the necessary nutrition (protein, starch, and vegetable)? Keep in mind that I’m kind of picky in that I want to keep away from processed foods as much as possible. Fresh is best but when it comes to veggies I’ll accept frozen too. So, let’s here it. Any suggestions?