More culinary tales

Blake is learning the alphabet and is very good at recognizing letters.  This has provided some interesting events, such as at a recent dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  He likes the big adult menu at all restaurants and finds a letter he knows and says, "I want that."  This particular night, it was a "D".  A "D" for Duck.  I explained that it was a whole duck and he might not really want that, maybe noodles and chicken would be more suitable.  But no, he wanted duck.  I found a smaller 1/2 duck and low and behold, a few minutes later, there was our platter of Peking Duck.  The good news is that he ate it!

Other experiences with this type of thing include our visit to California where he insisted on having squid.  Okay, we thought.  Do you have fried calamari?  No, only fresh squid sauteed.  Well, here goes... And our platter of mini squid, pink, purple, and white showed up.  Believe it or not, both boys LOVED it and ate nearly the whole thing.

That same evening, Blake managed to eat all the fresh crab out of my cioppino soup.  And when we returned to Utah and were scouting out the fresh fish section of the grocery store, trying to decide between the usual fare of trout, salmon, or orange roughy, he saw the crab legs.  "I want crab legs," was the request. So, we got him a crab leg and he ate the entire thing that night.

These eating adventures now include trying lobster tails from the store (this took much bravery on my part), lots of sushi (he even likes the seaweed salad), and the classic memory of him ordering directly to the waiter at a local steakhouse, "I'd like a cow."

Each evening is basically a lesson in food sources.  We ask, "What would you like tonight, chicken, cow, pig or fish?"  Once, when we'd apparently had too many nights of meat, he turned to me and asked in a mildly exasperated voice, "When are you going to buy some fish?"

Granted our main sustenance is still noodles and peanut butter and jelly, but gosh, these eating adventures have been quite entertaining.  I tell him, "Good thing you are so smart so that you can earn enough money to support your culinary tastes."  And he has aptly observed, "So...to make money... you need to work on a computer."

I think he's right.